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SERMONS 


BY  THE  LATE 


REV.    JAMES    H.    F  0  W  L  E  S. 


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SERMONS 


PREACHED  IN  THE 


€\Mi\  0f  t|e  (^piplang, 


PHILADELPHIA, 


BY  THE  LATE 


REV.  JAMES  H.  FOAYLES, 


RECTOE. 


PHILADELPHIA: 
PRINTED   FOR  THE   CONGREGATION. 

1855. 


Entered  according  to  the  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1S54,  in  the  Clerk's 
OflSce  of  the  District  Court  for  the  Eastern  District  of  Pennsylvania. 


PRINTED    BV    I.    ASHMKID. 


These  Sermons,  printed  in  compliance  with  the  earnest  wishes 
of  the  Congregation,  are  merely  a  selection  from  the  ordinary  dis- 
courses, which  their  lamented  author  was  accustomed  to  deliver,  to 
the  people  of  his  charge. 

No  labor  has  been  bestowed  in  polishing  the  diction  or  in  other- 
wise revising  them  for  the  press.  Having  neither  the  desire,  nor 
the  authority,  to  modify  or  to  omit  a  single  sentence,  the  work 
of  the  Editors  has  been  limited  to  the  correction  of  the  proof- 
sheets. 

As  they  came  from  his  pen,  and  were  pronounced  by  his  lips, 
they  are  now  submitted  to  his  friends. 


\i 


CONTENTS. 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH, i^ 

SERMON  I. 

REASONS  FOR  THE  FREE  FORGIVENESS  OF  SIN,       -  -  -        1 

SERMON  11. 

SOVEREIGN  AND  EFFECTUAL  GRACE,  -  -  -  .  17 

SERMON   III. 
THE  LAMENTATION  OF  THE  LOST  OVER  THEIR  OWN  NEGLECT,      33 

SERMON  IV. 

^     THE  HID  TREASURE, 49 

^  SERMON  V. 

'       THE  PEARL, 65 

J  SERMON  VI. 

THE  PARABLE  OF  THE  FIG  TREE, 81 

SERMON  VII. 

ST.  PAUL  RECONCILED  WITH  ST.  JAMES,         -  -  -  -      97 

SERMON  VIII. 

god's  USE  OF  EVIL  SPIRITS, 109 

SERMON  IX. 

NATURAL  AND  SPIRITUAL  REMEDIES  FOR  DARKNESS,     -  -   128 

SERMON  X. 

HATRED  TO  GOD  OF  THE  UNRENEWED  HEART,  -    -     -    141 

SERMON  XI. 

THE  SECOND  BIRTH — I., 155 

SERMON  XII. 

THE  SECOND  BIRTH — II., 169 

SERMON  XIII. 

AN  APPEAL  FOR  OUR  SUNDAY-SCHOOL,  ....  187 

SERMON  XIV. 

THE     RIGHTEOUSNESS     REQUIRED     IN     THE      KINGDOM      OF 

HEAVEN, 203 


Vm  CONTENTS. 

SERMON  XV. 
REFLECTIONS    ON    HAZAEL's    CASE;     OR,    THE   WORST     SINS 

NATURAL  TO  MAN, 221 

SERMON  XVI. 

THE   CASE   OF   JEHU   CONSIDERED;     OR,   THE   NECESSITY    OF 

SINGLENESS  IN  ZEAL, 235 

SERMON  XVII. 
THANKS  TO  THE  AUTHOR  OF  MERCIES,  ....  251 

SERMON  XVIII. 

WORLDLINESS  AND  ITS  RESULTS, 265 

SERMON  XIX. 

PARTIAL  CHANGES  INEFFECTUAL, 281 

SERMON  XX. 

DOUBLE-HEARTEDNESS,    -  .  -  ...         295 

SERMON  XXI. 

THE  TESTS  AND  OFFICE  OF  A  VALID  MINISTRY — I.,         -  -   311 

SERMON  XXII. 

THE  TESTS  AND  OFFICE  OF  A  VALID  MINISTRY — II.  -  -         327 

SERMON  XXIII. 

THE  FULNESS  AND  THE  FREENESS  OF  CHRIST,    -     -     -  345 

SERMON  XXIV. 

GOD,  THE  HELP  OF  THE  SPIRITUAL  SUICIDE,     -  -  -         361 

SERMON  XXV. 

A  DAYSMAN  NEEDED, 375 

SERMON  XXVI. 

EVIL    IN    RESERVE    FOR    THE    SELF-WILLED;     OR,    PRESENT 

GRACE  THE  ONLY  PLEDGE  FOR  FUTURE  GRACE,  -         393 

SERMON  XXVII. 

THE  SINFULNESS  OF  SIN, 411 

SERMON  XXVIII. 

THE  CAUSE  OF  SEAMEN, 425 

SERMON  XXIX. 

THE  MOURNER  MARKED  AND  SAVED, 443 

SERMON  XXX. 
THE  LORD  OUR  RIGHTEOUSNESS, 461 


EIOGEAPHICAL   SKETCH. 


To  enable  iis  to  refresh,  our  own  memory  of  past  les- 
sons of  instruction,  to  transmit  to  our  posterity  a  know- 
ledge of  the  truth  taught  by  our  late  beloved  pastor  and 
dear  friend,  and  to  give  still  wider  circulation  to  his 
teaching  through  the  medium  of  the  press,  are  the  mo- 
tives which  have  led  to  the  publication  of  the  Sermons 
comprised  in  the  volume  now  presented  to  the  reader. 
It  has  been  thought  to  be  not  inappropriate  to  preface 
these  discourses  by  a  very  slight  sketch  of  the  life  and 
character  of  one,  of  whom  it  may  truly  be  said,  that  he 
was  without  guile,  and  that  as^  was  his  teaching,  such 
was  also  his  faith  and  such  were  his  works. 

Seeking  not  the  honor  which  cometh  from  man,  but 
only  that  which  God  giveth,  he  became  a  powerful  illus 
tration  of  the  truth,  that  God  will  honor  those  who  thus 
honor  him ;  desiring  to  reflect  the  gloiy  of  Jesus,  and 
not  to  display  his  own  worth,  be  became  under  the  influ- 
ence of  divine  power,  a  mirror,  fi'om  which  were  reflected 
with  unusual  clearness,  and  freedom  from  defect,  the 
bright  rays  of  the  sun  of  righteousness. 

Of  his  personal  history  we  know  but  little ;  modest 
and  humble,  he  set  but  little  value  on  his  own  ability 
considered  separately  from  the  grace  bestowed.  He 
never  spoke  of  himself,  not  even  in  those  terms  of  dis- 
paragement in  which  self-righteousness  sometimes  en- 
velopes itself;  and  while  he  eveiy where  left  traces  as  he- 
passed,  of  an  influence  such  as  few  exert,  whether  we 
consider  it  in  kind  or  degree ;  those  traces  were  like 
the  flowers  and  fruits  which  follow  the  sunshine  and  tlie 
rain,  silent,  yet  living  witnesses  of  a  blessing  which 


X  BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH. 

came  and  passed  and  disappeared ;  giving  and  hoping 
for  nothing  again. 

Henry  Fowles,  a  Lieutenant  in  the  British  army,  and 
grandson  of  an  officer  of  some  distinction  in  the  service, 
married  a  young  American  girl  who  had  been  left  an 
orphan  at  an  early  age,  and  himself  died  at  the  age  of 
twenty-two,  leaving  an  only  infant  son,  James  Henry 
Fowles,  horn  at  Nassau,  IST.  P.  Mrs.  Fowles,  who  is  spoken 
of  by  those  who  knew  her  as  a  woman  of  more  than  usual 
intelligence,  was  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian  church. 
Of  the  character  of  Lieut.  Fowles,  no  traces  are  left  in 
this  country.  He  had  displeased  his  family  by  his  mar- 
riage, and  no  intercourse  was  maintained  with  the  widow, 
who  received  the  pension  allowed  to  families  of  officers 
of  the  rank  of  her  husband  during  her  life.  The  infant 
was  baptized  by  a  clergyman  of  the  Church  of  England 
to  which  the  father  belonged. 

"When  James  was  four  years  old  his  mother  returned 
to  the  United  States,  and  continued  until  her  death  to 
reside  with  a  female  relative  at  St.  Mary's,  Georgia. 
Mrs.  Fowles  lived  to  witness  the  completion  of  her  son's 
college  course,  and  the  commencement  of  his  Theologi- 
cal studies.  While  on  a  visit  to  New  Haven  at  the  time 
he  graduated,  she  took  a  violent  cold,  and  died  in  a  few 
months  after  her  return  to  St.  Mary's. 

To  the  relative  above  referred  to,  his  only  maternal 
one,  Mr.  Fowles  always  expressed  himself  as  being 
under  great  obligations,  and  while  he  often  spoke  of  her 
in  terms  of  grateful  affliction,  he  for  the  rest  of  his  life 
ministered  to  her  comfort. 

His  mother's  pension  aided  in  his  support  and  educa- 
tion until  her  death,  when  it  was  discontinued. 

From  the  kindly  influence  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Pratt,  the 
Presbyterian  clergyman  at  St.  Mary's,  and  an  intimate 
friend  of  his  mother,  Mr.  Fowles  was  at  the  age  of  four- 
teen years  transferred  for  the  completion  of  his  education 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  xi 

to  Yale  College,  New  Haven,  where  he  is  believed  to 
have  devoted  himself  to  mathematical  studies  with  the 
design  of  entering  the  British  army.  Little  is  now  known 
of  his  career  there  beyond  the  important  fact  that  he 
was  a  diligent  student ;  industrious  and  persevering ; 
always  prepared  with  his  recitations ;  and  one  who  com- 
manded the  profound  respect  of  all  who  knew  him,  for 
his  honesty,  his  manliness,  integrity  and  sterling  worth. 

He  graduated  with  the  class  of  1831,  having  pre- 
viously, in  common  with  many  other  members  of  it, 
been  made  the  subject  of  strong  religious  impressions, 
by  which  he  was  led  to  devote  himself  to  the  service  of 
the  Lord,  in  the  ministry  of  His  Word.  His  first 
religious  impressions  having  been  received  while  at  col- 
lege, he  remained  at  New  Haven,  and  after  having  taken 
his  degree  in  Arts,  prosecuted  his  Theological  studies 
under  the  direction  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Taylor,  Professor  of 
Theology.  When  the}^  were  completed,  he  placed  him- 
self under  the  care  of  the  Presbytery  of  New  York,  by 
whom  he  was  licensed  to  preach.  Soon  after,  in  the 
year  1833,  he  went  to  Beaufort,  South  Carolina,  on  a 
visit  to  a  friend. 

In  the  year  1831,  Beaufort  and  the  adjoining  district 
had  been  visited  by  one  of  those  special  outpourings  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  which  have  been  vouchsafed  in  every 
age  of  the  church  in  various  degrees,  and  under  various 
ministrations.  In  this  instance  it  had  commenced  in 
the  Episcopal  Church,  and  extended  to  other  denomina- 
tions, vmtil  nearly  the  whole  community  were  brought 
under  its  power.  This  was  no  evanescent  excitement. 
To  the  present  day  its  effects  are  felt,  not  only  in  tlie 
district  in  which  it  began,  but  throughout  the  church. 
Bishops,  priests  and  deacons  in  our  own  communion,  as 
well  as  clergymen  in  other  denominations,  still  testify  to 
its  heavenly  origin,  by  lives  consecrated  to  the  sei'\'ice 
of  God.  This  is  not  the  place  to  record  the  history  of 
its  rise  and  progress.     On  Mr.  Fowles  the  effect  was  at 


Xll  BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH. 

once  strong  and  permanent.  The  beauty  and  fulness  of 
the  prescribed  services  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  arrested 
his  attention,  and  their  adaptation  to  the  condition  and 
necessities  of  man  approved  them  to  his  judgment;  and 
though  satisfied  until  the  end  of  life,  of  the  validity  of  the 
orders  of  other  churches,  he  sought  and  received  ordina- 
tion from  the  Rt.  Rev.  Bishop  Bowen, 

lie  was  soon  after  settled  in  the  charge  of  a  rural 
parish  in  South  Carolina,  and  while  there,  passed  through 
those  deep  trials  to  which  he  never  referred,  except  in 
general  terms,  and  which  led  him  to  adopt  so  strongly 
the  i^eculiar  views  which  he  felt  it  his  duty  to  enforce  in 
all  his  subsequent  ministry.  His  highly  trained  and 
logical  mind  would  not  rest  satisfied  without  tracing  out 
his  system  of  doctrine  in  all  its  bearings,  and  so  entire 
was  the  conversion  of  his  heart,  that  with  the  simplicity 
of  a  little  child,  he  received  and  acted  upon  what  he 
believed  he  had  been  taught  of  God,  however  much  it 
might  conflict  with  the  views  and  feelings  of  an  unsauc- 
tified  nature. 

His  first  ministerial  charge  was  the  parish  of  St.  John's, 
Berkley,  from  which,  after  a  few  months,  he  removed 
to  Edgefield  district,  where  also  he  remained  but  a 
short  time;  yet  not  so  short,  but  that  even  there  he 
left  a  living  testimony  to  the  power  of  his  ministry 
in  the  hearts  of  those  who  still  cherish  his  memoiy  with 
affectionate  gratitude. 

From  this  parish,  which  was  in  some  sort  a  mission- 
aiy  station,  he  was  called  to  Wilton  in  the  year  1836, 
and  there  married  Miss  Matilda  Maxcy,  of  Beaufort, 
S.  C*    His  interest  in  the  souls  of  all  the  members 

*  This  lady,  connected  with  the  oldest  families  in  the  State,  was 
the  daughter  of  Milton  Maxcy,  of  Beaufort,  who  was  the  youngest 
brother  of  Rev.  Dr.  Maxcy,  first  president  of  Brown  University,  and 
afterwards  President  of  Columbia  College,  S.  C,  a  brother  also  of  the 
Hon.  Virgil  Maxcy,  Solicitor  of  the  U.  S.  Treasury,  and  Minister  to 
Belgium,  and  the  intimate  friend  of  the  Hon.  John  C.  Calhoun. 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  xiii 

of  the  liuman  family,  led  liim  at  tins  time  to  devote 
himself  with  great  assiduity  to  the  duty  of  preach- 
ing to  the  negroes  on  the  plantations,  and  them  he 
served  freely ;  riding  a  long  distance  on  each  Sahhath, 
and  crossing  a  river  to  minister  to  this  charge,  and  the 
same  day  repeating  the  long  and  exhausting  journey  on 
his  return.  This  was  to  avoid  remaining  at  a  place, 
which  on  account  of  the  miasma,  would  in  the  summer 
time  be  certain  death  to  the  white  man,  exposed  to  it 
for  a  night.  Mr.  Fowles  left  numerous  attached  friends 
in  this  parish,  and  the  church  grieved  to  lose  his  devoted 
ministrations. 

In  1841  he  was  called  to  St.  Bartholomew's  parish, 
S.  C,  of  which  parish  Walterboro'  is  the  summer  resi- 
dence. Here  he  ministered  for  nearly  five  year.s,  and 
his  ministry  was  greatly  blessed.  In  this  parish  reside 
some  of  the  wealthiest  and  most  highly  educated  families 
in  the  State.  By  all,  he  was  esteemed  as  a  faithful,  up- 
right, and  earnest  minister  of  Christ ;  however  offensive 
the  doctrines  he  taught.  By  very  many,  his  ministry  was, 
through  grace,  received  in  heart-felt  approbation;  and 
the  memory  of  it,  is  to  this  day,  fondly,  reverently,  and 
gratefully  cherished.  During  his  residence  in  this  parish, 
two  especially  remarkable  conversions  took  place ;  the 
subjects  of  both  of  which,  are  now  in  the  ministry  of 
the  Episcopal  Church,  able  ministers  of  the  N^ew  Testa- 
ment, and  faithful  ambassadors  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
In  this  parish  Mr.  Fowles  continued  until  his  removal  to 
Philadelphia.  The  following  letters  written  while  Rec- 
tor of  Saint  Bartholomew's  are  here  introduced  as  they 
exhibit  his  views  on  points  of  great  importance.  They 
were  addressed  to  a  lady  who  had  designed  uniting  her- 
self to  the  Communion  of  the  Presbyterian  Church ;  but 
was  induced  by  the  solicitation  of  friends  to  inquire 
from  Mr.  Fowles  what  were  the  considerations  which 
had  led  him  to  give  a  preference  to  the  Protestant  Epis- 


XIV  BIOURAPHICAL   SKETCH. 

copal  Churcli.  The  advice  given,  and  the  reasons 
assigned  for  it,  are  as  far  removed  as  possible  from  the 
views  of  those  who  claim  for  Episcopacy  an  exclusive 
right  to  the  name  and  offices  of  the  church  ;  while  they 
yet  exhibit  a  high  appreciation  of  the  peculiarities  by 
which  the  Episcopal  Church  is  distinguished ;  and  an 
earnest  devotion  to  her  interests.  It  is  believed  his  fur- 
ther acquaintance  with  the  influences  of  the  various 
organizations,  by  which  the  Church  of  Christ  is  divided, 
strengthened,  rather  than  weakened  the  views  here  ex- 
pressed. 

Walterboro',  5th  May,  1843. 
My  dear  young  Friend, 

I  the  more  regret  the  necessity  of  your  not  paying  us 
your  expected  visit,  as  an  hour  or  two's  conversation  on 
the  subject  of  your  letter,  would  perhaps  be  more  satis- 
factory than  as  many  closely  written  reams  of  paper. 
Looking  however  to  the  Lord  for  his  blessing  on  these  in- 
ferior means  (which  are  the  best  the  circumstances  allow) 
and  feeling  my  utter  insufficiency  to  guide  myself,  much 
less  to  lead  others,  I  will  venture  to  send  you  a  few 
thoughts,  fearing  that  they  may  reach  you  too  late  for 
any  practical  purpose  (as  j^ou  refer  to  your  wish  of  being 
baptized  next  Sunday,)  yet  praying  that  if  this  be  so, 
you  may  have  that  divine  help  which  you  will  need, 
whatever  human  instrumentality  be  used. 

It  is  a  solemn  and  momentous  act  to  number  ourselves 
with  the  people  of  God.  May  I  beg  you,  before  you 
take  this  step  (whatever  denomination  of  Christians  be 
finally  chosen)  to  be  sure  that  you  feel  the  utter  corrup- 
tion of  your  nature,  and  the  guiltiness  of  your  entire  life 
in  the  sight  of  the  Holy  God  ?  On  this  point  examine 
yourself  by  such  texts  as  Gen.  vi.,  5 ;  Rom.  iii.,  9 — 20  ; 
viii.,  7,  8,  and  2  Cor.  iii.,  5.  K  the  Spirit  has  thus  un- 
veiled to  you  your  natural  state,  you  surely  have  felt 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  XV 

your  unfitness  to  meet  God  at  liis  bar,  and  some  dread- 
ful apprehensions  in  view  of  it.  See  Job  xxiii.  15,  and 
Ps.  cxix.  cxx.  While  oppressed  with  the  sense  of  guilt, 
have  your  eyes  been  opened  to  see  Jesus,  the  Son  of 
God,  enduring  in  his  person  as  your  substitute,  the  pen- 
alty of  sin  ?  Have  you  by  faith  rolled  the  burden  of  your 
sin's  guilt  upon  him  ?  As  though  relieved  of  an  oppres- 
sive weight,  has  your  spirit  then  been  lightened  ?  Did 
you  then  view  God  no  longer  as  an  oflended  Judge  ;  but 
as  a  reconciled  Father;  one  with  whom  you  were  at 
peace:  with  whom  you  could  walk  as  two  who  are 
agreed :  whom  you  loved  with  some  degree  of  the  affec- 
tion, which  creatures  should  have  towards  their  Creator, 
and  the  redeemed  towards  their  Redeemer  ?  Is.  liii.  5,  6  ; 
2  Cor.  V.  21 ;  1  Pet.  ii.  24 ;  Pom.  v.  1 ;  viii.  15,  16 ; 
2  Cor.  vi.  17,  18.  Has  it  since  been  your  delight  to 
have  fellowship  with  the  Father  and  the  Son  ?  1  John, 
i.  3.  In  prayer  ?  Phil.  iv.  6.  In  reading  the  Scriptures  ? 
Ps.  i.  ii.  And  whenever  God  seems  to  hide  his  face, 
and  his  word  appears  to  you  a  sealed  book,  do  you  feel 
with  Job,  (xxix.  2,  3,)  "  Oh  !  that  I  were  as  in  months 
past ;  as  in  the  days  when  God  preserved  me  :  when  his 
candle  shined  upon  my  head,  and  by  his  light  I  walked 
through  darkness?"  Do  you  feel  repentance  for  the 
past,  and  are  you  steadfastly  purposed  to  lead  a  new  life  ? 
2  Cor.  vii.  10.  Does  sin  which  still  remains  within,  af- 
flict you  more  than  anything  else  ?  Rom.  vii.  24.  Do 
you  long  for  heaven  more  on  account  of  the  immaculate 
purity  you  will  there  attain,  than  for  aught  else  ?  Ps.  x\'ii. 
15.  Are  you  determined  to  come  out  from  the  world, 
and  be  separate — feeling  the  necessity  of  this  as  well  in 
obedience  to  God,  as  for  your  own  happiness,  and  growth 
in  grace?  2  Cor.  vii.  17;  1  Cor.  xv.  33.  Do  you  trace 
this  great  change  in  yourself  entirely  to  the  Spirit  of 
God?  John  iii.  15;  vi.  44.  Do  you  depend  entirely  on 
him  for  strength  to  persevere?   2  Cor.  iii.  5.     Do  you 


XVI  BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH, 

still  feel  liourly  your  need  of  the  application  of  tlie  puri- 
fying and  justifying  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  to  your  soul? 
1  John  i.  7-10.  These^  these  are  the  all-important  points. 
Be  satisfied  on  these.  Then,  look  up !  Your  expecta- 
tions will  never  he  cast  off.  But  you  will  he  directed  by 
an  unerring  hand.  Do  not,  however,  act  on  the  point, 
on  which  you  have  consulted  me,  until  you  have  some 
_good  ground  to  hope  it  is  with  you,  as  the  previous 
questions  and  references  imply,  as  the  Scriptures,  and 
I  their  unworthy  minister,  desire  it  to  he.  K  you  begin 
thus,  all  will  continue,  and  end  well.  The  covenant  into 
which  you  will  have  entered  with  God  will  have  been 
sufficient;  Heb.  viii.  8-13.  But  if  not,  there  will  only 
be  disappointment  in  life  and  death. 

Referring,  then,  the  examination  of  your  feelings  and 
state,  to  yourself  and  God,  I  proceed  on  the  supposition 
and  hope,  that  after  proving  yourself  thus,  you  will  be 
able  to  look  up  with  confidence  through  Jesus :  and  say, 
"Abba,  Father,  I  am  thy  child."  On  second  thoughts, 
however,  may  I  not  beg  you  to  allow  me  to  defer  giving 
you  my  views  on  the  point  about  which  you  have  written, 
until  you  let  me  know,  what  is  the  result  of  your  exami- 
nation, about  the  work  of  grace  in  your  own  soul ;  with 
the  tests  of  which  I  have  endeavored  to  supply  you  in 
this  letter?  You  will  not,  I  hope,  be  dissatisfied  with 
this  short  postponement;  as  excess  of  caution  on  so  im- 
portant a  subject,  is,  perhaps,  preferable  to  precipitancy: 
and  the  interchange  of  feelings  and  views,  on  these 
points,  often  leads  to  great  results.  While  I  am  sensible 
of  my  unfitness  for  the  task  you  have  entrusted  me  with, 
yet  I  am  none  the  less  grateful  for  this  mark  of  your 
confidence ;  and  it  will  always  be  my  pleasure  and  duty 
to  contribute  such  help  to  your  furtherance  in  the 
Christian  journey  as  may  be  in  my  power. 

In  your  anticipated  visit  to  your  friends,  and  in  the 
gaieties  usual  to  such  occasions,  ^^ou  will  perhaps  find 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH.  XVll 

trials,  and  experience  your  need  of  grace.    desires 

to  be  aflectionately  remembered  to  yourself,  and  your 
father's  family;  in  wbicli  of  course,  I  unite.  That  the 
Spirit  may  be  with  you  in  self-examination,  and  that 
you  may  have  reason  to  conclude  that  a  saving  change 
has  been  wi-ought  within  you  by  his  mighty  power, 
although  it  may  not  have  been  carried  to  the  extent  and 
perfection  that  you  wish,  is  the  prayer  of 

Your  sincere  friend  in  Christ, 

J.  H.  FOWLES. 


Walterboro,  29th  May,  1843. 
My  dear 

The  confidence  reposed  m  me,  in  unfolding  your  mind 
so  unreservedly  on  the  subject  of  your  late  letter,  is  duly 
appreciated.  I  thank  God,  through  Jesus  Christ  his 
Son,  that  he  has,  as  I  trust,  revealed  to  you  in  some 
degree,  your  naturally  fallen  state,  and  at  the  same  time 
disclosed  to  your  view  the  Saviour.  Be  not  however 
content.  The  heart  is  deceitful.  Pray  that  tlie  work 
may  be  genuine  and  thorough.  Rest  not  satisfied  with 
man's  judgment;  nay,  like  St.  Paul,  judge  not  yourself, 
but  let  him  that  judge th  you  be  the  Lord.  Jiind  even 
when  you  obtain,  as  I  hope  you  soon  will,  the  full  assur- 
ance of  faith,  still  press  onward  in  holiness  and  zeal,  and 
enjoyment  of  Him  who  hath  called  you.  Walk  near, 
live  daily  with  Jesus.  Let  him  be  your  constant  coun- 
sellor and  friend,  and  he  will  not  sufier  you  to  stray,  nor 
let  the  waters  overwhelm  you. 

In  relation  to  the  subject  on  which  I  led  you  to  exj^ect 
a  letter,  it  would  perhaps  be  better  for  you  to  give  you 
my  own  experience,  than  to  treat  it  didactically.  I  was 
born  in  the  Episcopal  church,  and  baptized  by  one  of 
her  ministers;  but  my  mother  soon  removed  from  the 

B 


XVlll  BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH. 

place  of  my  nativity  to  a  village  in  Georgia,  where  tliere 
was  no  cliurcb.  of  that  denomination.     Her  own  mind 
was  not  religiously  impressed  until  some  years  after,  and 
then  her  views  of  the  Christian  life  were  so  different  from 
those  which  had  been  adopted  and  practised  upon  by  the 
minister  and  people  of  the  particular  Episcopal  church 
that  she  was  formerly  acquainted  with,  that  she  hastily 
concluded  formality  and  worldliness  pervaded  the  whole 
communion.     I  was  brought  up  with  these  sentiments 
in  relation  to  the  church,  and  after  my  own  mind  and 
heart  were  changed,  tliere  were  perhaps  no  reasons  to 
remove  my  prejudices ;  I  accordingly  studied  in  a  Con- 
gregational seminiiry,  and  was  licensed  to  preach  the 
Gospel  by  a  Presbyteiy.     Soon  after,  however,  I  paid  a 
visit  to  Beaufort,  in  this  State,  when  I  became  acquainted 
with  some  of  the  most  spiritually  minded  Christians  that 
I  ever  met  with ;  and  the  church  in  all  her  institutions, 
but  especially  in  her  liturgy,  was  recommended  to  me 
in  a  way  in  which  I  had  never  viewed  her  before.     I 
was  led  to  examine  into  her  organization  and  claims. 
The  result  was,  that  I  became  convinced  the  constitution 
of  her  ministry  was  more  Scriptural  than  that  of  the 
denomination  with  which  I  was  connected,  and  that  the 
appointment  of  one  of  the  clergy  to  the  supervision  of 
affairs  in  general,  and  to  a  defined  pre-eminence,  pre- 
vented that  contest  for  influence  and  power  which  I  had 
observ^ed  under  the  Presbyterian  organization,  where  you 
know  there  is  but  one  grade  in  the  ministry.     I  will  add 
that  the  experience  of  several  years  has  only  confirmed 
me  in  this  opinion.     In  relation  to  the  Liturgy,  I  soon 
found,  that  instead  of  its  being  necessarily  a  mere  form 
and  an  invariable  clog  to  true  devotion,  it  was,  when  the 
spirit  of  the  worshipper  had  been  prepared  for  worship 
by  the  Spirit  of  God,  a  channel  in  which  the  soul  could 
move  unfettered  in  her  freest  moments :  and  to  such  a 
worshipper,  it  became  a  standard  which  allured  him  to 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  xix 

elevate  rather  than  lower  liis  feelings,  when  in  a  de- 
pressed mood.    Instead  of  its  frequent  repetition  making 
it  lose  its  effect,  I  think  that  up  to  the  present  moment, 
I  have  found  its  happy  influence  increasing  rather  than 
diminishing.     Its  spirituality,  alas!  is  but  little  known 
by  the  great  body  of  Episcopalians  themselves.     I  would 
recommend  to  your  perusal  a  little  work  on  the  subject, 
published  originally,  without  the  name  of  the  author,  in 
England,  and  edited,  within  two  or  three  years  in  this 
country,  by  Mr.  Walker,  of  Beaufort,  entitled:  "Prayers 
of  the  Church."     I  would  further  say,  that  when  Episco- 
pal piety  is  genuine,  I  think  I  have  observed  more  meek- 
ness characterizing  it  than  when  it  is  met  with  in  other 
folds— more  in  the  spirit  of  ITewton,  whose  letters  I  re- 
member to  have  given  to  one  of  you  when  I  was  with 
you,  than  we  discover  elsewhere;  and  this,  I  think,  is 
legitimately  traced  to  her  institutions,— but  I  cannot 
enlarge.     If  then  it  had  pleased  the  Lord  to  frame  the 
spirit  of  your  brother,  as  I  trust  he  has  yours,  and  he  was 
about  to  enter  the  ministry,  I  would  not  hesitate  to  re- 
commend the  Episcopal  church  to  his  preference ;  neither 
would  I  hesitate  to  council  you  in  the  same  way,  if  I 
thought  you  would  be  under  an  evangelical  influence  by 
connecting  yourself  with  the  church  in  yom-  city.    It  has 
been  a  subject  of  no  little  anxiety  wdth  me,  what  to  say 
to  you  in  reply.     I  have  concluded,  after  giving  you  as 
full  a  statement  as  my  limits  of  time  and  paper  would 
admit,  to  throw  the  responsibility  of  the  choice  entirely 
on  you,  on  whom  of  course,  however  clear  the  matter 
might  be  to  me,  it  ought  to,  and  must  finally  rest;  and 
simply  to  indicate  in  the  form  of  a  question,  the  course 
which  I  think,  if  followed  with  a  right  spirit,  might  be 
blessed  to  you  and  all  concerned.     Might  you  not  con- 
nect yourself  with  the  Episcopal  church,  and  for  ^he 
present  receive  your  counsel  and  direction  more  imme- 
diately and  exclusively  from   God.     I  mean,  without 


XX  BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH. 

dependence  on  ministerial  aid?  Might  it  not  be  your 
object  to  elevate  meekly  in  conversation  and  by  example, 
the  tone  of  feeling  and  living  among  your  fellow  com- 
municants ?  Might  it  not  be  your  prayer,  that  God,  by 
his  Spirit,  should  change  the  views  and  feelings  of  the 
pastor  in  relation  to  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  or  in  his 
own  good  time  send  you  a  shepherd  who  will  follow 
nearly  and  clearly  in  doctrine  and  life,  the  chief  Shepherd 
and  Bishop  of  souls  ? 

In  the  meantime,  might  you  not  determine  to  hear  as 
frequently  as  circumstances  permit,  the  truth  in  its  sim- 
plicity and  force,  which  alone  is  able  to  build  you  up  in 
the  most  holy  faith,  preached  by  Presbyterian  ministers, 
and  others  who  may  have  been  taught  from  above? 
There  are,  I  am  aware,  many  objections  to  this  course, 
and  if,  in  view  of  them,  you  decide  differently  from  these 
suggestions,  be  assured  your  determination  will  give  me 
pleasure  and  satisfaction,  and  you  shall  have  my  prayers 
that  God  may  be  with  you,  and  bless  and  use  you, 
wherever  you  go,  to  his  own  glory.  Do  not,  however, 
decide  yourself,  without  much  prayer  and  study  of  the 
word.  If  you  take  the  course  indicated  above,  much 
will  depend  upon  the  books  you  read.  Beware  of  bad 
advice  on  this  subject.  Let  me  recommend  to  you 
Bickersteth  on  Baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper;  Bishop 
"Wilson  of  Calcutta,  and  Bishop  Meade  of  Virginia,  on 
Confirmation.  ******* 
I  remain,  yours, 

Faithfully  and  affectionately  in  the  Lord, 

J.   II  FOWLES. 


The  lady  in  question  became  a  member  of  the  Episco- 
pal church,  and  continues  a  devout  and  interested  wor- 
shipper in  that  body,  whose  connection  she  at  first 
hesitated  to  adopt. 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  Xxi 

It  was  in  tlie  year  1845,  that  Mr.  Fowles  was  called  to 
tlie  charge  of  the  Church  of  the  Epiphany,  Philadelphia. 
The  Rev.  Dr.  Tyng,  hy  whose  ministry  it  had  been  col- 
lected, had  recently  removed  to  ISTew  York,  and  great 
apprehension  was  entertained  hy  many  persons,  lest  the 
congregation  should  he  scattered,  from  the  difficulty  of 
finding  any  one  who  could  occupy  the  place  of  so  de- 
voted and  eloquent  a  minister.  The  reputation  of  Mr. 
Fowles,  for  soundness  of  doctrine,  clearness  of  teaching, 
richness  of  natural  endowment,  depth  of  mental  culture, 
and  holiness  of  life,  having  reached  some  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Vestry,  through  the  Et.  Rev.  Bishop  Elliot, 
and  the  Rev.  Dr.  "Walker,  of  Beaufort,  the  views  of 
the  Vestry  were  early  turned  towards  him,  and  he  was 
asked  whether  he  would  accept  a  call  to  the  vacant 
rectorship.  After"some  correspondence,  and  with  man}^ 
misgivings  on  his  part,  owing  to  the  great  changes  of 
climate  and  labor  involved,  his  sense  of  duty  led  to  an 
affirmative  repl}^ ;  although  his  acceptance  was  for  a  time 
temporary  and  conditional. 

But  little  intercourse  was  needed  to  win  for  him  the 
affections  of  the  people.  The  chances  of  travel  threw 
him  into  association  with  one  member  of  the  Vestry,  on 
his  way  to  the  North.  The  simple  open  guilelessness 
which  was  in  so  peculiar  a  degree  his  characteristic, 
secured  for  him  a  warm  interest  on  the  part  of  this 
gentleman  and  his  family,  and  the  same  trait  was  every- 
where productive  of  a  similar  influence,  even  during  the 
short  visit  which  he  then  made.  The  impression  made 
by  the  first  sermon  which  he  preached  was  so  decided, 
that  the  only  feeling  was  one  of  apprehension  lest  he 
should  shrink  from  the  charge  of  the  congregation,  and 
the  response  to  the  unanimous  call  of  the  Vestry,  which 
was  not  given  till  he  had  returned  home,  was  waited  for 
with  no  little  anxiety. 

It  was  no  ordinary  trial  thus  to  sever  the  ties  of  friend- 


Xxii  BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH. 

ship  by  which  he  was  hound  to  many  of  the  loftiest 
intellects  and  purest  hearts,  to  be  found  in  Southern  life, 
and  to  come  among  a  strange  people,  to  break  to  them 
the  bread  of  life ;  and  give  himself  to  the  preaching  of 
the  word,  among  those  of  whom  he  could  not  foresee 
whether  they  would  gladly  hear  or  scornfully  reject. 
Taking  to  him  the  whole  armor  of  God,  and  shod  with 
the  preparation  of  the  Gospel  of  Peace,  he  stood  forth 
the  uncompromising  champion  of  those  views  which  are 
exhibited  so  clearly  in  the  discourses  now  committed  to 
the  press.  Although  among  those  members  of  his  flock 
whom  he  most  loved  and  with  whom  he  maintained  the 
most  frequent  and  kindly  intercourse,  as  well  as  among 
the  clergy  of  the  city,  who  sympathized  closely  with  him 
in  other  things,  there  were  some  who  were  not  prepared 
to  adopt  all  his  doctrinal  views,  yet  were  there  none  to 
be  found  in  either  class,  who  could  do  other  than  revere 
the  candour,  the  dignity,  and  the  Christian  grace,  with 
which  he  adorned  those  doctrines  which  he  felt  bound 
to  set  forth,  as  in  his  deliberate  judgment,  the  truth  of 
God. 

His  friend,  the  Rev.  Dr.  "Walker,  of  Beaufort,  remarks, 
with  reference  to  this  subject: 

"  Coincidentally  with  the  change  in  his  ecclesiastical 
relations,  began  the  change  in  his  doctrinal  views — a 
change,  which  not  long  after  his  ordination  and  entrance 
upon  ministerial  duty  in  a  retired  parish,  was  fully  and 
strongly  developed.  It  was  not,  however,  as  I  happen 
to  know,  by  any  set  and  formal  examination  of  the  doc- 
trinal system  in  which  he  had  been  trained,  that  he  was 
brought  to  abandon  that  system.  The  change  began, 
not  so  much  in  his  intellect,  as  in  his  heart. 

"There,  in  his  heart,  great  discoveries  in  respect  of 
God's  law  and  God's  holiness,  and  man's  guilt  and  help- 
lessness, were  made  to  him  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  through 
Bible  reading,  and  deep  temptation,  and  terrible  self- 
conflict. 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  xxiii 

"  Aside  from  all  humanly  arranged  systems,  tlie  work 
began  and  was  carried  on.  It  was  simply  God's  Spirit, 
taking  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  and  showing  it  unto 
him.  It  was,  so  to  speak,  the  private  interpretation  of 
the  Holy  Ghost. 

"  His,  consequently  was  the  Theology  of  God, — a  The- 
ology which  he  rejoiced  to  find  thoroughly  embodied 
in  the  Thirty  Nine  Articles.  In  short  he  embraced 
that  great  body  of  divinity  '  Emmanuel,  God  with  us,' 
in  whose  glories  his  divinely  quickened  and  illumined 
mind  loved  to  expatiate,  and  to  unfold  which  to  God's 
tried  and  conflicting  people,  as  well  as  to  sinners  out- 
lying in  their  blood  and  pollution,  was  ever  the  deep  joy 
and  earnest  longing  of  his  soul." 

This  peculiar  dispensation  stamped  the  whole  charac- 
ter of  his  future  teaching,  and  he  went  forth  to  his  work 
as  a  Minister  of  the  Gospel,  with  the  deep  conviction  that 
he  was  to  preach  "  the  Grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ" 
to  "  a  world  lying  in  iniquity"  "  condemned  already,"  in 
which  there  is  "none  that  doeth  good,  no  not  one;"  a 
world  wholly  "  under  the  curse"  from  which  there  was 
no  deliverance  for  any  but  through  Him  who  "  was 
made  sin  for  us,  though  he  knew  no  sin,  that  we  might 
be  made  the  righteousness  of  God  in  Him."  In  connec- 
tion with  this  view  he  was  entirely  convinced  of  the 
truth  of  the  opinions  held  by  St.  Augustine  of  old,  and 
by  the  whole  body  of  the  Reformers  of  the  Sixteenth 
century ;  and  deeply  impressed  with  the  conviction  that 
he  was  "  inwardly  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  to  take 
upon  him  this  office  and  ministry,"  and  that  of  necessity 
his  preaching  must  be  the  "  savour  of  life  unto  life,  or 
of  death  unto  death,"  to  all  who  heard,  he  not  only  en- 
gaged in  his  work  with  great  earnestness,  but  constantly 
and  diligently  sought  for  those  enlightening  influences 
of  the  same  Spirit,  by  which  he  had  himself  been  quick- 
ened, to  enable  him  rightly  to  divide  the  word  of  truth, 


XXIV  BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH. 

and  to  prepare  tlie  hearts  of  the  people  duly  to  receive 
the  word  taught.  This  it  was,  which  stamped  his 
preaching  with  a  peculiarity,  in  strong  contrast  with  the 
other  features  of  his  character.  There  was  a  very 
remarkable  boldness  and  energy  in  the  enunciation 
of  his  views,  even  when  he  was  well  assured  they 
were  such  as  would  excite  the  enmity  of  the  carnal 
mind,  and  prove  folly  to  human  wisdom.  Yet  in 
every  other  line  of  action  he  was  modest,  gentle, 
easily  entreated,  and  willing  to  be  guided  by  the 
judgment  of  others.  Those  who  only  knew  him  in  the 
pulpit,  and  heard  him  declare  God's  controversy  with 
sin,  that  he  might  awaken  the  slumbering  sinner,  and 
draw  him  to  the  only  refuge  provided  from  the  storm  of 
his  righteous  indignation, — who  saw  him  there  tear  off 
the  flimsy  veil  of  self-righteous  delusion,  and  display  to 
the  condemned  transgressor  the  abominations  of  the 
deep  recesses  of  his  own  heart, — could  scarcely  be  made 
to  believe  how  deep  were  his  yearnings  of  soul  over 
those  whose  guilt  he  thus  proved,  and  how  he  longed 
for  the  salvation  of  those  whose  condemnation  he 
thus  endeavored  to  seal  upon  their  own  consciences. 
As  the  ambassador  of  Christ  he  would  "persuade  men," 
and  "knowing  the  terror  of  the  Lord,"  he  desired 
the  more  earnestly  to  "beseech  them  to  be  reconciled  to 
God." 

Deeply  read  in  the  mystery  of  human  depravity,  lie  yet 
ever  acted  towards  man,  in  his  intercourse  with  him,  as 
though  he  believed  all  around  him  were  free  from  guile  ; 
and  on  every  subject,  except  those  which  came  under 
his  observation  in  his  ministerial  capacity,  he  was  easily 
led.  There  he  never  shrank ;  and  whether  it  was  to 
say  to  a  brother  minister  that  the  sermon  he  had  just 
preached  was  destitute  of  the  first  principles  of  the  Gos- 
pel of  Christ,  or  to  caution  young  disciples  to  beware 
lest  they  deluded  themselves  into  a  belief  that  they  were 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH.  XXV 

secure  when  they  entered  into  covenant  with  God,  by  a 
mere  outward  connection  with  the  church,  and  to  warn 
them  that  by  so  doing  they  only  increased  their  con- 
demnation, he  alike  in  either  case,  did  violence  to  his 
natural  feelings  as  a  man,  in  obedience  to  his  solemn 
conviction  of  duty  as  a  sei'vant  of  Christ. 

The  distinguishing  peculiarity  of  his  ministry  was  the 
earnest  setting  forth  of  the  spotless  purity  of  Jehovah, 
his  absolute  sovereignty,  the  necessity  that  sin  should 
not  go  unpunished,  the  fullness,  perfection  and  sufficiency 
of  the  atonement  made  by  Jesus  in  the  offering  of  him- 
self once  for  all ;  the  absolute  necessity  of  the  power 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  to  quicken  those  who  are  dead, 
enabling  them  to  call  Jesus  Lord,  and  thus  to  become 
by  faith  partakers  of  the  righteousness  which  he  has 
wrought  for  them  by  obedience  to  the  law,  in  their  be- 
half; and  as  the  consequence  of  this  faith,  the  sanctifica- 
tion  of  the  soul  b}^  the  indwelling  of  the  Spirit  in  the 
heart  of  the  believing  child  of  God.  His  abhorrence  of 
the  tendency  to  convert  the  grace  of  God  into  an  apology 
for  sin  was  extreme,  and  equally  great  was  his  aversion 
to  whatever  had,  in  his  apprehension,  the  slightest  ten- 
dency to  the  exaltation  of  human  merit.  He  was  "  like 
the  prophet  of  old,"  "very  jealous  for  the  Lord  God  of 
Hosts." 

There  was  no  attempt  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Fowles  to  win 
popular  applause.  It  was  manifest  that  the  simple  mo- 
tive by  which  he  was  impelled,  Avas  that  which  actuated 
the  Apostle,  and  has  since  influenced  so  many  of  the 
noblest  champions  of  the  truth,  "  "Wo  is  me  if  I  preach 
not  the  Gospel."  His  labors  were  performed  not  unto 
man  but  unto  God.  Looking  forward  to  the  crown  of 
righteousness  as  his  reward  in  the  day  of  the  Lord  Jesus, 
it  was  to  him  a  very  small  matter  to  be  judged  of  man's 
judgment.  Yet,  so  much  did  his  preaching  commend 
itself  to  those  who  heard  him,  that  his  congregation 


XXVI  BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH. 

steadily  increased  until  it  was  found  necessary  to  enlarge 
the  church,  even  then  the  largest  of  our  denomination 
in  the  city,  in  order  to  meet  the  demand  for  additional 
seats. 

His  health  was  but  feeble  at  the  best,  yet  he  labored 
without  ceasing,  not  only  in  the  public  ministiy  of  the 
pulpit,  but  in  private,  by  letter  and  conversation  ;  while 
his  social  visits  among  his  people  were  always  made 
occasions  for  instruction,  not  formally,  but  as  the  natural 
result  of  the  fact  that  he  was  filled  with  the  love  of 
Christ.  From  the  abundance  of  the  heart  the  mouth 
spake,  and  the  ripe  fruits  which  were  ready  for  every 
hand  to  pluck,  while  they  proved  that  the  tree  was  good 
by  which  they  were  produced,  served  for  the  nourish- 
ment of  the  spiritual  life  in  the  souls  of  those  who  were 
brought  into  association  with  him.  Far  as  possible 
from  any  approach  to  repulsive  harshness,  there  was  yet 
that  about  him  which  repressed  unseemly  levity  or 
trifling,  while  evident  tokens  of  mental  power  [invited 
to  such  conversation  as  should  at  once  improve  the  un- 
derstanding and  elevate  the  affections. 

There  were  no  incidents  of  any  peculiar  prominence, 
which  would  give  effect  to  the  picture  of  his  life.  His 
career  was  one  unbroken  straightforward  course  of 
duties.  The  spring  of  1849  found  him  with  health  so 
feeble,  that  it  was  thought  desirable  for  him  to  enjoy 
some  months  of  repose  from  the  constant  toil  of  minis- 
terial eftbrt,  and  he  was  induced  to  spend  the  summer 
in  Great  Britain,  where  he  formed  delightful  Christian 
friendships  with  some  who  still  cherish  the  recollection 
of  his  visit. 

The  letters  which  he  wrote  during  his  absence  to  his 
friends  among  the  congregation  at  home,  proved  how 
strongly  his  heart  beat  in  unison  with  the  common  throb 
of  earthly  emotions,  while  those  addressed  to  the  con- 
gregation in  the  weekly  Prayer  Meetings,  manifested  his 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  XXVll 

ever  active  sense  of  the  responsibility  of  tlie  ministerial 
relation. 

He  was  ever  ready  to  put  constraint  upon  himself, 
when  the  cause  in  which  he  was  engaged  demanded  the 
sacrifice.  He  had  been  very  fond  of  the  game  of  chess, 
and  had  become  exceedingly  skillful  in  it,  and  continued 
to  find  pleasure  in  it  as  a  mode  of  relaxation,  until 
he  was  challenged  by  a  gentleman  who  declared  he 
had  never  been  beaten.  After  a  long  and  hardly  con- 
tested game  Mr.  Fowles  checkmated  his  adversary,  who 
was  so  mortified,  and  manifested  such  irritation  at  the 
result,  that  Mr.  Fowles  determined  never  again  to  en- 
gage in  an  amusement  which  gave  rise  to  emotions  so 
painful  and  unholy. 

Feelings  thus  sensitive  were  often  pained  by  the^dis- 
charge  of  the  duties  of  his  ofiBlce,  which  compelled  him 
to  sift  carefully,  and  investigate  closely,  the  minds  and 
hearts  of  his  people.  One  who  knew  him  well,  and  who 
pursued  his  studies  for  the  ministry  under  his  direction, 
says  of  him,  "About  the  season  of  confirmation  his 
countenance  bore  a  peculiarly  anxious  look ;  he  seemed 
to  be  continually  laboring  under  a  fear  lest  he  should 
admit  into  the  fold  of  Christ,  any  who  would  bring  dis- 
honour on  their  profession  ;  so  jealous  was  he  of  the 
honour  of  his  Lord.     Of  this  he  often  spoke  to  me. 

"  Had  it  not  been  for  this  deeply  seated  feeling  the 
number  of  his  candidates  might  have  been  trebled. 
Those  who  went  to  solicit  advice  from  him  will  testify 
to  the  cordial  manner  in  which  they  were  always  re- 
ceived. He  seemed  to  enter  at  once  into  the  peculiar 
circumstances  of  the  applicants,  and  to  make  their  wants 
and  cares  his  own."  The  writer  adds  the  following 
beautiful  tribute  to  the  manner  in  which  he  discharged 
the  most  delicate  pastoral  duties. 

"  My  mother  wishes  to  bear  testimony  to  the  great 
profit  and  pleasure  which  she  derived  from  his  pastoral 


XXVlll  BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH. 

intercourse.  She  will  never  forget  the  visit  he  paid  her 
when  howed  in  affliction  by  a  most  awfully  oppressive 
calamity.  She  had  not  before  needed  his  words  of  con- 
solation, and  she  thought  he  might  even  reprove  the 
weakness  which  yielded  to  the  yearnings  of  nature. 
When,  however,  he  encouraged  her  still  to  pray  and 
hope  even  against  hope  that  God  in  apparent  wrath  still 
remembered  mercy — when  for  a  moment  he  seemed  to 
forget  the  spiritual  adviser,  and  to  speak  as  one  similarly 
affected,  and  alive  to  all  those  feelings  which  mark  the 
sensitive  heart,  she  felt  that  she  had  indeed  found  one 
who  was  not  only  a  minister  of  Christ  but  a  brother  in 
the  Lord." 

The  more  closely  any  were  brought  into  relation  to 
him,  the  more  highly  did  they  appreciate  his  character. 
Hence  it  was  that  he  grew  in  the  affectionate  esteem  of 
his  parishioners,  and  of  the  clergy  and  laity  who  were 
most  prominent  in  the  councils  of  the  Church  in  this 
diocese,  until  in  the  Convention  of  1853,  he  was  elected 
one  of  the  delegates  to  the  General  Convention,  which 
was  to  assemble  in  the  autunm  of  that  year.  This  com- 
mission he  accepted  without  hesitation,  not  because  of 
any  overweening  estimate  of  his  own  abilities,  but  from 
the  earnest  desire  that  the  views  he  had  embraced,  and 
which  he  held  to  be  inseparably  connected  with  the  life 
of  the  Church,  should  be  represented  as  fully  as  possible. 
He  would  gladly  have  discharged  those  duties,  but  he 
bowed  with  humble  acquiescence  to  the  manifest  ap- 
pointment of  God,  which  interfered. 
.  A  parishioner  and  intimate  friend,  in  feeble  health, 
once  brought  on  a  severe  illness  by  undue  exposure,  in 
keeping  an  appointment  at  a  distance,  during  a  violent 
storm.  His  reproof  was  conveyed  in  this  language. 
"  Did' you  suppose  yourself  wiser  than  God?  His  Pro- 
vidence interposed  an  obstacle  to  which  you  should  have 
bowed."     It  was  in  the  same   spirit  that  he  met  the 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH.  XXIX 

illness  by  wliicli  he  was  liimself  laid  aside  from  active 
duty. 

The  summer  was  spent  in  the  country  in  pursuit  of 
strength  and  renewed  health,  and  he  returned  to  the 
city  in  the  month  of  September,  in  the  full  expectation 
of  being  able  to  go  to  New  York,  where  the  Convention 
was  to  assemble  in  October.  An  attack  of  remittent  fever 
soon  prostrated  him,  and  gave  opportunity  for  the 
development  of  the  diseased  tendency  which  he  had 
inherited  from  his  parents,  and  which  he  had  always 
apprehended  would  cut  short  his  days.  A  severe 
hemorrhage  from  the  lungs,  which  occurred  during  the 
convalescence  from  the  fever,  marked  the  invasion  of 
those  organs  by  a  disease  which  steadily  progressed 
with  unusual  rapidity,  until  in  the  month  of  November 
it  was  found  necessary  to  arrange  for  his  speedy  voyage 
to  the  South  ;  not  with  any  hope  of  recovery,  but  to 
place  him  in  those  circumstances,  among  relatives  and 
friends,  which  would  contribute  most  comfort  to  the  few 
weeks  of  his  decline.  The  following  letter  addressed 
from  his  sick  and  suftering  bed  on  the  eve  of  his  sailing 
for  Savannah,  to  the  prayer  meeting  which  assembled 
weekly  in  the  Lecture  Room  of  the  Church,  was  his  last 
ministerial  eflbrt. 

"  My  beloved  People, 

I  had  intended  to  address  a  pastoral  letter  to  my  con- 
gregation, to  be  read  before  the  entire  Church,  but  un- 
expected weakness  has  deprived  me  of  that  privilege. 
Under  these  circumstances  I  send  you  a  line,  who  meet 
weekly  in  this  room  for  prayer.  It  will  be  short,  but 
intimately  concerning  both  you  and  myself.  I  know 
the  interest  which  you  take  in  my  recovery ;  be  affec- 
tionately reminded  that  it  is  in  God's  hands,  and  that 
prayer  should  be  your  chief  reliance  for  His  help. 
Much,  however,  will  depend  upon  the  character  of  the 


XXX  BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH. 

prayer  offered.  There  may  be,  even  witli  the  best  of 
iutentions,  idolatrous  prayer  offered  to  the  True  God. 
This  is  the  poiut  to  which  I  beg  you  to  attend.  If  in 
asking  my  Hfe,  you  regard  it  as  essential  to  the  carrying 
on  of  the  work  of  God  in  your  own  souls,  or  to  the  edifica- 
tion of  His  Church,  it  will  be  most  provoking  to  God, 
showing  that  you  depend  upon  an  arm  of  flesh.  By  essen- 
tial, I  mean  that  the  spiritual  blessings  which  you  desire 
for  yourselves  or  others  of  the  congregation,  can  never  be 
attained  except  through  me.  Beware  of  this  feeling  in 
your  inmost  heart.  You  can  easily  see  how  degrading 
such  a  feeling  is  to  the  Almighty  and  Gracious  Spirit  of 
our  God,  who  works  with,  without,  or  against  all  means, 
as  suits  His  sovereign  will.  If  you  have  entertained  it, 
and  I  have  helped  to  foster  it,  there  is  nothing  which 
will  sooner  tempt  God  to  punish  the  idolater,  and  take 
the  idol  out  of  the  way. 

In  the  second  place,  regard  me  not  even  as  important 
in  your  securing  any  spiritual  blessing.  This  borders 
closely  on  the  previous  feeling,  and  though  not  equally 
sinful,  it  may  require  deep  chastening  from  the  Provi- 
dence of  God.  That  chastening  may  be  His  teaching 
you  how  easily  He  can  bestow  greater  blessings  through 
others  than  he  has  ever  bestowed  by  me.  "  Paul  may 
plant,  Apollos  water,  it  is  God  that  giveth  the  increase." 

I  would  have  you  feel  that  I  am  the  merest  instru- 
ment in  the  hands  of  an  eternally  gracious  and  cove- 
nant-keeping God.  Still — an  instrument  beloved ;  one 
to  whom  God  himself  has  attached  you ;  to  whose  mode 
of  ministration  you  have  become  now  habituated,  and 
find  it  more  easy  to  profit  by.  If,  with  such  feelings 
towards  God  and  rae,  you  approach  the  Throne  of 
Grace,  relying  for  acceptance  upon  the  sole  merits  and 
righteousness  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  you  may  pour 
out  the  tenderest  emotions  of  your  heart,  and  if  it  be 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  xxxi 

His  pleasure  you  will  be  heard  and  answered,  and  I  will 
yet  be  restored  to  my  labours  and  your  prayers. 

Receive  tbese  intimations,  my  Christian  friends,  from 
one  who  feels  exceedingly  grateful  for  all  the  kindness 
which  you  have  manifested  towards  him,  during  his 
pastoral  supervision  of  this  church ;  from  one  too,  who 
would  willingly  be  spared  to  labor  longer  among  you  in 
his  Master's  sei-vice,  and  who  only  wishes  to  give  efiect 
to  your  prayers. 

Concerning  yourselves,  I  leave  you  with  firm  confi- 
dence, that  God  will  be  the  Shepherd  of  his  own ;  and 
that  He  will  help,  when  those  who  are  regarded  faithful 
by  short-sighted  fellow-men,  are  "  minished  from  among 
the  inhabitants  of  the  earth."  I  commend  you,  there- 
fore, to  God  and  the  Word  of  His  Grace,  which  is  able 
to  build  you  up,  and  give  you  an  inheritance  among  all 
those  who  are  sanctified. 

From  your  afifectionate  Pastor, 

J.  H.  FOWLES.' 

From  the  time  of  his  reaching  his  friends  in  South 
Carolina,  till  the  hour  of  his  dissolution,  his  sufferings 
were  great.  Soothed  by  the  kindest  and  most  unre- 
mitting attention  to  his  bodily  necessities,  and  comforted 
by  the  sympathy  and  support  of  Christian  friends  who 
ministered  to  him  the  consolations  of  the  Gospel,  he 
rapidly  sank  ;  giving  daily  evidence  of  the  weakness  of 
the  flesh,  but  equally  strong  manifestations  of  the  fact 
that  his  faith  did  not  fail  him,  till  he  set  his  final  seal 
to  the  truth  of  the  ground  of  his  hope,  in  the  beautiful 
language  addressed  to  his  beloved  wife  :  "I  am  going  to 
Jesus,  you  must  meet  me  there ;"  then  placing  his  hand, 
already  cold  from  the  retrocession  of  the  powers  of  life 
toward  the  inner  citadel,  he  uttered  slowly  and  distinctly 
the  following  memorable  farewell.  "The  blessing  of 
your  husband's  God  be  upon  you !    May  he  be  ^vith  you 


XXXU  BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH. 

and  help  you  in  every  trouble  !  May  His  Spirit  guide 
you  through  your  journey,  in  your  passage  to  His  Hea- 
venly presence,  where  I  will  welcome  you  with  open 
arms,  and  stand  by  when  Jesus  receives  you  into  his 
Kingdom." 

Thus,  on  the  evening  of  the  Lord's  day,  March  25th, 
1854,  in  the  forty-second  year  of  his  age,  he  rested  from 
his  labours. 


The  following  extracts  will  exhibit  the  esteem  in  which 
he  was  held  by  the  Bishop  of  the  Diocese,  and  some  of 
his  brethren,  while  the  unanimous  action  of  the  Clergy 
of  the  city  proves  that  the  estimate  of  his  character  thus 
expressed  extended  to  them  all. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Stevens,  in  a  sermon  preached  to  his 
own  congregation,  shortly  after  the  death  of  Mr. 
Fowles,  observes,  "  That  he  possessed  many  marked  and 
even  exalted  traits  of  personal  and  religious  character. 
His  mind  was  admirably  furnished  with  knowledge, 
and  disciplined  to  exact  and  careful  thought.  His 
attainments  were  extensive  and  varied, — and,  peculiarly 
reflective  in  the  habit  of  his  mind,  he  brought  to  the 
subject  which  engaged  his  attention,  a  calm  deliberation, 
a  clear  sighted  reason,  a  poised  judgment,  which  caused 
him  to  hold  his  opinions  with  modest  meekness  upon 
points  of  allowable  difference,  but  to  be  tenacious  of 
truth,  as  he  understood  it,  in  all  its  vital  doctrines.  His 
Theology  was  eyninently  Biblical.  He  called  no  man 
master,  he  sat  at  Jesus'  feet  and  learned  of  him.  And, 
though  men  named  him  this  or  that,  according  to  their 
different  stand-point  of  judgment,  yet  he  followed  blindly 
no  master  in  Israel,  and  took  unhesitatingly  no  dicta  but 
the  word  of  Christ.  His  doctaines  were  in  the  main  the 
clear  Scriptural  doctrines  of  the  English  Church  of  the 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH.  XXXill 

seventeenth  centnry.  He  sympatliized  with  those  who 
framed  the  sturdy  faith  of  the  Church  of  England,  as 
embodied  in  the  thirty-nine  articles;  and  though  it  has 
been  too  much  the  fashion  of  those  who  wish  to  elevate 
man  at  the  expense  of  God,  and  reason  at  the  expense 
of  revelation,  and  the  Church  at  the  expense  of  its  divine 
Head,  to  decry  the  tenets  of  the  fathers  and  confessors 
as  too  angular,  too  rigid,  too  austere, — yet  these  are  in 
very  truth  the  doctrines  upon  which,  as  upon  a  rock-like 
foundation  the  Church  is  built,  because  they  are  the 
doctrines  of  Jesus  Christ  and  his  apostles. 

"  These  are  indeed  the  true  exponents  of  Gospel  truth, 
and  the  glory,  efficiency,  and  holiness  of  the  Church,  is 
in  proportion  to  the  earnestness  and  fidelity  with  which 
these  strong  points  of  divinity  are  received  and  main- 
tained. 

"  Mr.  Fowles  was  a  bold  and  faithful  proclaimer  of 
'the  whole  counsel  of  God.' 

"He  sought  not  in  his  preaching  to  please  men,  l)ut  to 
win  souls — not  to  satisfy  a  sense  of  professional  duty, 
but  to  approve  liimself  unto  God — not  to  call  out  human 
encomiums,  but  by  manifestation  of  the  truth,  to  com- 
mend himself  to  every  man's  conscience  in  the  sight  of 
God.  His  sermons  were  full  of  the  marrow  of  the  Bible ; 
they  were  massive  with  great  truths,  they  were  rich  with 
the  treasures  of  faith,  they  were  fragrant  with  the  out- 
poured ointment  of  the  Saviour's  name,  and  were  de- 
livered with  a  simplicity  and  earnestness,  which  left  deep 
impressions  upon  his  congregation.  Many  others  have 
made  more  show  of  their  labors,  and  done  works  which 
covered  more  surface,  but  few  have  wi'ought  such  deep 
thorough  heart  work, — work,  which  will  not,  like  the 
tracery  of  winter's  frost,  melt  away  as  soon  as  the  sun  is 
up,  but  that  will  endure  through  storm  and  strife,  through 
joy  and  sadness,  unto  everlasting  life. 

"  The  more  his  people  knew  him,  the  more  they  loved 


XXXIV  BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH. 

Mm, — for  though  reserved  among  strangers,  he  jet 
manifested  great  loveliness  of  character  and  deep  aft'ec- 
tion  of  heart  to  all  who  were  brought  within  his  pastoral 
circle." 

Extract  from  the  address  by  the  Rt.  Rev.  Bishop 
Potter,  at  the  funeral  of  Mr.  Fowles. 

"  My  brother  beloved !  How  little  did  we  think  that 
when  we  met  aorain  we  should  meet  as  we  do  now! 
And  how  little  did  we  think  that  the  appeal  then  so 
earnestly  urged  from  this  pulpit  should  in  so  few  months 
be  so  brought  home  to  our  hearts,  from  the  coifin  in  this 
aisle  !  "Who,  indeed,  shall  be  "  baptized"  in  place  of  the 
"dead"  who  now  lies  before  us!  "Where  shall  we  again 
find  the  same  unspotted  life — the  same  resolute  spirit — 
the  same  simplicity  in  proclaiming  the  deep  convictions 
of  the  soul — the  same  wrestling  with  the  angel  of  the 
presence  for  the  sanctification  of  his  own  heart — the 
same  gentleness  and  love  combined  with  the  same  in- 
domitable courage?  "Who  shall  be  baptized  in  the 
place  of  the  dead?"  And  would  that  here  and  now  a 
portion  of  his  indomitable  courage,  his  precision  and 
firmness  in  the  expression  of  what  he  deemed  conscien- 
tious and  right,  his  hatred  for  sin,  and  yet  love  for  the 
sinner,  his  directness,  and  his  profound  sense  of  the  cor- 
ruption of  human  nature  and  its  need  of  redeeming, 
renewing  grace,  might  fall  on  us!" 

The  character  of  his  mind  and  heart  is  beautifully 
delineated  by  one  of  his  friends  in  the  following  passage : 

"Mr.  Fowles  was  indeed  possessed  of  rare  and  emi- 
nent qualities,  both  of  head  and  heart,  with  which  our 
communion  can  but  illy  dispense,  and  the  loss  of  which 
in  his  person  is  not  the  less  signal  from  the  fact  that 
they  were  not  such  as  at  first  struck  the  gross  popular 
attention.    He  possessed,  it  is  true,  fine  intellectual  and 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  XXXV 

moral  properties,  but  there  are  others  who  possess  the 
same.  That  which  was  his  distinguishing  feature,  both 
in  intellect  and  character,  was  singleness.  It  was  this 
that  added  firmness  and  precision  to  his  naturally  fine 
logical  powers ;  and  it  is  perhaps  remarkable  in  his  case, 
as  in  that  of  the  great  statesman  of  our  own  days  who 
sprang  from  the  same  zone  of  territory,  that  in  the  luxu- 
riance of  a  southern  climate  was  generated  an  intellectual 
tissue  so  severely  grained  that  even  ornament  found  on 
it  no  flaw  on  which  to  fasten  itself.  And  this,  while  it 
deprived  him  of  many  of  those  allurements  which  attract 
the  superfcial  eye,  was  to  the  careful  observer  a  great 
charm  ;  for  by  making  his  train  of  reasoning  transparent, 
it  exhibited  in  its  single  majesty  a  clearness  and  severity 
of  thought  pre-eminently  worthy  to  grapple  with  the 
intellect  of  earnest  men  engaged  in  the  great  work  of 
seeking  their  soul's  salvation.  If  passion  there  ever  was, 
it  was  that  which  is  evolved  from  earnestness — not  that 
which  produces  it — that  which  is  the  result,  not  the 
stimulant,  of  intellectual  power.  And  from  this  we  can 
well  turn  to  trace  in  its  general  relations  the  effect  of  the 
same  dominant  feature,  which,  while  it  gave  to  the  in- 
tellect such  direct  power,  shed  on  the  character  such 
winning  sweetness.  The  same  singleness  displayed  itself 
in  every  movement  of  his  life.  He  was  intent  on  his 
mission,  and  what  is  more,  on  nothing  else.  He  had 
no  collateral  purposes.  In  his  life,  as  in  his  preaching, 
there  was  no  pause  to  watch  the  effect  on  others  of  what 
he  did  or  said.  In  such  a  character  modesty  and  fear- 
lessness were  essential  ingredients  ;  for  what  is  there  to 
such  a  man,  on  such  a  mission,  in  human  applause  under 
which  to  flutter,  or  in  human  displeasure  at  which  to 
tremble. 

"And  henc(^  it  was,  that  while  in  his  relation  to  hia 
fellow  men,  his  positiveness  of  theological  perception 
forbade  a  merely  sentimental  fraternization,  he  never 


^XXvi  BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH. 

failed  to  gain  tlic  respect  and  aftection  of  those  wiio 
received  liim  within  the  range  of  a  fair  and  manly 
observation.  But  there .  was  something  more,  which 
those  whose  lot  it  w^as  to  he  visited  by  him  in  sorrow 
never  can  forget.  There  was  a  John-like  tenderness  of 
heart,  which  the  world  is  so  unwilling  to  believe  can  be 
associated  with  a  Paul-like  positiveness  of  faitli.  And 
peculiarly  became  this  the  case  as  the  setting  sun — alas ! 
when  to  others  it  seemed  in  its  meridian  height — was 
throwine;  its  declinino-  effulgence  on  its  character.  Those 
deep  and  distinct  lineaments,  which  in  his  early  ministry 
first  struck  the  eye,  while  they  continued  to  preserve 
their  definiteness,  were  mellowed  by  a  tinge  of  sweet- 
ness and  love,  which  made  his  face  no  imperfect  reflec- 
tion of  his  character.  Sad,  indeed,  is  the  lot  of  the 
Church,  when  such  a  man,  scarcely  beyond  the  fullness 
of  youth — for  he  was  not  yet  forty — is  swept  away  from 
a  field  where  such  qualities  are  so  much  needed.  And 
earnest,  indeed,  should  be  the  prayer  of  all  Christians, 
that  they  may  receive  grace  to  maintain  the  faith  with 
that  firmness  and  precision — that  singleness  and  sAveet- 
ness — ^that  courage  and  innocency — with  which  it  pleased 
the  Lord  most  High  to  imbue  his  servant  whom  he  has 
now  taken  away." 

The  liev.  Kingston  Goddard  preached  a  sermon  in  his 
own  church,  commemorative  of  the  character  of  ISIr. 
Fowles,  and  repeated  it  in  the  Church  of  the  Epiphany. 
From  it  we  are  permitted  to  make  the  following  ex- 
tracts : — 

"  Whilst  in  the  character  of  the  late  Mr.  Fowles  there 
was  much  that  wms  admirable ;  many  traits  were  pos- 
sessed by  him  of  extraordinarj^  worth,  and  in  more  than 
ordinary  fullness.  He  w^as,  for  instance,  intellectually, 
a  man  of  strong  ^towers.  His  reasoning  faculties  were 
not  only  prominent,  but  vigorous.     Every  subject  inves- 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCH.  XXXVll 

tigated  by  him  was  thoroughly  sifted,  and  clearly  under- 
stood. His  pulpit  addresses  from  this  peculiarity  of  his 
mind,  being  more  logical  than  illustrative — doctrinal 
and  didactic  than  hortatory  and  exciting.  Thus  he  was 
a  most  instructive  pastor,  deeply  versed  in  the  doctrine 
of  Christ,  having  a  clear  and  discriminating  understand- 
ing of  divine  truth.  From  a  calna  and  patient  investi- 
gation of  the  volume  of  Revelation,  he  was  better  fitted 
than  most  men  of  his  age  to  discuss  and  explain  the 
darkly  revealed  and  mysterious  doctrines  of  the  Bible. 
All  who  waited  casually  upon  his  ministry  were  at  once 
convinced  that  they  were  sitting  under  the  teachings  of 
no  ordinary  mind,  whilst  his  own  congregation  evi- 
dently learned  to  value  the  teachings  of  a  pastor,  which 
were  storing  the  mind  with  the  rich  truths  of  God's 
word,  made  clear  and  plain  through  his  superior  abilities. 
As  a  master  workman  in  the  great  Temple  of  Grace,  his 
was  evidently  not  the  genius  to  adorn  and  beautify,  but 
the  mind  that  directed  the  laying  of  the  broad  and 
strong  foundations  of  truth.  The  sound  of  his  trump  of 
warning,  as  a  watchman  of  God,  may  not  have  been  as 
dulcet  and  silvery  as  some ;  but  it  was  loud,  full,  clear- 
and  unrivaled  in  its  distinctness ;  every  note  of  which, 
as  it  trembled  on  the  ear,  gave  a  '  certain  sound.'  Re- 
garding him,  with  reference  to  his  intellectual  powers 
merely,  in  his  death  we  feel  that  a  great  light  has  been 
extinguished  in  the  Church  of  our  God. 

"  There  was  one  view  of  Gospel  truth  held  by  him  that 
cannot  be  too  strongly  insisted  upon.  I  allude  to  the 
acknowledgment  of  the  existence  of  that  impenetrable 
cloud  that  shuts  out  the  more  spiritual  doctrines  of  scrip- 
ture from  the  eye  of  merely  natural  reason.  The  unen- 
lightened mind  no  more  understanding  the  deep  things 
of  God  than  the  unconverted  soul  appreciating  and  feel- 
ing them.  For  whilst  the  unsanctified  but  gifted  intellect 
can  understand  and  discuss  many  of  the  doctrines  of' 


XXXVIU  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH. 

revelation,  yet  there  is  a  point  beyond  wliieli  the  merely 
natural  intelligence,  (however  aided  by  learning,)  cannot 
traverse.  Once  over  that,  and  the  mind  is  at  sea,  with- 
out compass,  star  or  landmark  to  guide  it.  Among  these 
truths  the  unlettered  slave  taught  by  the  Spirit,  is  at 
home ;  whilst  the  most  intellectual  and  learned,  but  not 
taught  by  grace,  would  confess,  were  they  honest,  as  did 
"Wm.  Pitt  to  Wilberforce  on  hearing  I^Tewton  preach, 
that  they  could  not  understand  these  things.  This  doc- 
trine, the  necessity  of  the  agency  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to 
enlighten  the  darkened  mind  of  man,  and  to  grant  him 
new  and  clear  views  of  Gospel  truth,  he,  'taking  of 
the  things  of  Christ,  and  showing  them  unto  us,'  our  bro- 
ther most  clearly  and  determinately  held.  Not  that  the 
Spirit  of  God  gives  genius  and  talent  to  the  mind  of  the 
Christian,  nor  any  intellectual  bestowment ;  except  such 
as  is  the  indirect  result  of  dwelling  upon  the  sublime,  aw- 
ful and  pleasing  themes  of  revelation.  But  that  he  does 
give  the  power  of  spiritual  discernment,  as  St.  John 
clearly  states,  1  John  ii.  27 :  '  Ye  need  not  that  any 
man  teach  you ;  but  as  the  same  anointing  teacheth  you 
of  all  things,  and  is  truth,  and  is  no  lie,  and  even  as  it 
hath  taught  you,  ye  shall  abide  in  him.'  To  this  same 
teaching  of  the  Spirit  did  he  trace  with  grateful  adora- 
tion his  own  views  of  the  truth.  Like  Thomas  Scott,  he 
confessedly  sought  his  instruction  in  divine  things  from 
God.  With  the  mind  of  the  Spirit  he  sought  to  have  his 
own  in  accordance.  Upon  his  experience,  as  one  taught 
of  God,  as  the  result  of  means  industriously  used,  he 
threw  himself  when  in  brotherly  discussion;  and  a 
strong  tower  was  it  to  the  truth  of  God,  against  the 
conceptions  of  men. 

"Necessarily  did  these  views  lead  him  to  seek  for  the 
same  aid  to  render  his  instructions  effective  to  his  people. 
His  preaching  always  seemed  to  me  to  be  based  upon 
the  declaration,  'Paul  may  plant,  &c.'     'There  is  too 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH.  XXXIX 

mucli  of  man,  too  much,  addressed  to  the  mere  man,' 
was  his  oft  repeated  sentiment  to  me,  'in  modern 
preaching.  It  is  not  the  simple  truth  of  God ;  God,'  he 
declared,  '  would  take  care  of  his  own  truth ;  men  want 
boldness,  and  some  men  honesty,  in  telling  what  they 
do  know.'  Referring  to  a  well  known  and  oft  repeated 
anecdote:  'I,'  said  he,  'fully  realize  the  feelings  of 
that  minister  of  God,  who  could  not  and  would  not 
go  into  his  lecture  room  unless  the  Spirit  went  with 
him.  I  only  am  astonished,'  continued  he,  'that  any 
minister  of  Christ  can  neglect  this  Spirit's  aid  in  his 
work,  or  labor  without  the  realization  of  his  presence.' 
What  a  true  and  faithful  servant  of  the  Lord  was  he, 
therefore,  necessarily  to  his  people!  Envied,  indeed, 
were  they  who  sat  under  such  an  instructor ! 

"Mr.  Fowles  was  a  man  of  deep  and  undoubted  piety! 
Unhesitatingly  do  I  confess  that  he  seemed  to  live 
nearer  to  his  God  than  any  man  that  I  have  ever  perso- 
nally known,  unless  it  were  the  spiritually  minded  Bedell. 
His  piety  was  of  an  extraordinarily  experimental  depth  ! 
Whilst  no  one  could  be  with  him  for  a  few  hours  and 
not  feel  that  he  was  a  man  of  God,  those  who  were 
the  most  intimate  with  him  had  the  highest  estimate  of 
his  holiness.  His  was  not  a  religion  that  was  marked 
by  certain  exhibitions,  as  if  it  were  a  garment  that  we 
assume,  to  attract  by  its  symmetry  and  beauty ;  it  was 
seated  deep  in  the  hidden  man  of  the  heart,  and  was 
seen  outwardly,  as  was  the  brilliancy  of  the  face  of 
Moses  when  it  burst  upon  Israel,  even  through  the 
meshes  of  the  veil  with  which  he  covered  himself  withal ; 
and  like  it,  his  inward  light  was  the  result  of  personal 
communion  with  his  God. 

"  There  were  certain  characteristics  of  this  piety,  that  it 
will  be  profitable  for  us  to  notice.  For  instance,  he  was 
noted  for  an  entire  deadness  to  the  world ; — its  pomp  and 
power  seemed  to  have  no  fascinations  for  him.     He 


xl  BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH. 

entered  upon  ofFiee  or  left  it,  as  if  careless  of  tlie  honor 
connected  tlierewitli;  regarding  office  and  position  as 
only  valuable,  and  as  really  desirable  because  afibrding 
the  means  of  doing  good,  or  of  extending  his  views 
of  truth.  The  fame  of  the  world  evidently  had  no 
attraction  in  his  regard.  The  voice  of  praise  or  of 
condemnation  fell  with  but  little  effect  upon  his  ear, 
and  altered  not  his  straight  forward  purpose  of  duty. 
Satisfied  only  in  securing  for  himself  the  smiles  and 
commendation  of  his  Master;  to  the  will  of  God  as 
revealed  in  his  word  or  exhibited  in  his  providences, 
he  bowed  with  most  entire  submission.  This  became 
in  him  a  remarkable  trait  as  exhibited  both  in  his  con- 
duct and  teaching:  so  much  so  that  if  I  had  been  called 
to  inscribe  a  motto  for  him,  it  would  have  been,  'The 
Lord  God  omnipotent,  reigneth.'  The  undisputed  Sov- 
reignty  of  God,  always  wise  and  merciful  in  its  di -splays, 
whether  through  providence  or  in  revelation,  was  a  doc- 
trine that  was  so  fully  admitted,  that  it  shaped  his  char- 
acter and  tinged  his  preaching.  Living  or  dying,  sick 
or  well,  prospered  or  opposed,  ever  did  he  seem  to  feel 
that  he  was  the  Lord's.  A  touching  instance,  of  which,  I 
heard  related :  a  friend  stating  that  when  he  expressed  his 
regret  that  he  was  not  able  to  visit  his  church  and  see 
the  convenience  and  elegance  of  those  improvements 
that  have  been  so  recently  made  in  this  beautiful  house 
of  worship,  his  remark  was,  '  It  is  well,  God  has  ordered 
otherwise !'  It  was  more  the  spirit  of  gentle  and  sweet 
submission  that  was  evidenced,  than  the  mere  sentiment, 
that  affected  the  narrator.  An  instrument  merely  in 
God's  hand,  did  he  regard  himself;  having  no  more 
right  to  dictate  to  him  than  has  the  '  saw  to  demand  of 
him  that  shaketh  it,  what  doest  thou?'  Such  views 
rendered  him  always  cheerful  under  opposition  and  calm 
under  trial ;  they  proved  his  support  and  stay  when  the 


BIOGKAPIIICAL    SKETCH.  xll 

last  great  struggle  Avitli  sickness  and  dciitli  was  entered 
upon. 

"And  lastly,  our  departed  brother  was  eminently  a 
man  of  prayer.  It  seems  almost  superfluous  to  make 
sucli  a  statement,  after  what  we  have  already  said  about 
the  peculiarities  of  his  piety.  But  prayer  with  him, 
whether  for  others  or  himself,  seemed  to  be.  according 
to  the  beautiful  expression  of  one  of  our  hymns,  'his 
vital  breath  and  native  air.'  It  was  not  a  talking  to 
God,  as  if  he  needed  information  from  man,  but  a  pre- 
sentation of  want  to  him  who  alone  could  relieve  it.  The 
honest,  earnest,  submissive  entreaty  of  the  waiting  and 
hungry  soul ;  he  evidently  having  drunk  in,  to  its  full- 
ness, the  instruction  of  his  JMaster :  'When  ye  pray,  use  not 
vain  repetitions,'  &c.  For  so  earnest,  simple  and  truthful 
were  his  supplications  to  God,  as  oftered  in  our  monthly 
clerical  meetings  for  prayer,  that  with  his  voice  the  soul 
of  the  one  kneeling  beside  him  was  insensibly  born 
upward  to  the  mercy  seat  for  relief,  and  gently  brought 
into  the  presence  of  the  great  and  gracious  Jesus.  That 
such  a  man  living  must  have  been  a  faithful  and  devoted 
minister  of  Christ,  follows  as  a  matter  of  course  from  the 
possession  of  the  traits  of  character  which  we  have  de- 
scribed :  and  that  he  should  have  been  accounted  faith- 
ful in  his  ministry  when  he  was  called  from  his  eartldy 
stewardship,  'and  showed  his  Master  of  these  things,' 
we  cannot  doubt.  His  work  and  his  labors  are  over, 
his  trust  performed,  and  he  is  at  rest." 


SERMONS. 


SERMON  I. 


REASONS  FOR  THE  FREE  FORGIVENESS  OF  SIN. 


Isaiah  i.  18. 


"  Come  now,  and  let  vs  reason  together,  saith  the  Lord:  though 
your  sins  be  as  scarlet,  they  shall  be  as  white  as  snow  ; 
though  they  be  red  like  crimson,  they  shall  be  as  wool." 

The  meaning  and  application  of  this  text  will  be 
perceived,  if  we  propose  and  answer  three  inquiries. 

The  first  of  these  is  :  What  class  of  persons  does  God 
here  invite  to  come  and  reason  ivith  him  ? 

The  second  is :  What  is  the  sid)ject  upon  zvhich  he  in- 
vites them  to  reason  ivith  him  ? 

And  the  third  is :  What  do  the  Scriptures  shoiv  is  the 
uniform  reasoning  on  this  point  between  them  and  God  ? 

We  must  first  show,  tvhat  class  of  persons  God  here 
solicits  to  come  and  reason  with  him. 

This  gracious  invitation  and  assurance  was  address- 
ed to  persons  in  a  peculiar  state  of  mind.  What  that 
state  of  mind  was,  may  be  gathered  from  the  context. 
From  the  beginning  of  the  chapter  to  the  close  of  the 
tenth  verse,  the  most  unqualified  charges  of  sin  had 
been  brought  by  our  prophet  against  the  people  to 
whom  he  had  been  sent,  and  the  most  overwhelming 
calamities  threatened.  The  effect  of  these  denuncia- 
tions upon  some  was  to  produce  an  outward  reforma- 
1 


A  SEASONS  FOR  THE 

tion:  they  offered  "multitudes  of  sacrifices;"  they 
brought  "'  oblations"  and  '■  incense ;"  the  "  new  moons 
and  Sabbaths"  were  rigidly  observed ;  religious  "  as- 
semblies" were  frequently  called.  This,  however,  was 
not  the  change  desired  and  required  by  God :  they 
were  asked  by  his  inspired  servant,  the  prophet,  "  To 
what  purpose"  were  these  ?  even  theii'  "  solemn  meet- 
ings" were  regarded  as  "  iniquity,"  and  their  worship 
as  "  vain"  and  an  "  abomination."  The  nature  and  re- 
jection of  this  mistaken  and  superficial  reformation  are 
described  from  the  eleventh  to  the  sixteenth  verses. 
Thus,  the  prophet  was  commissioned  to  announce  what 
was  expected  at  their  hands,  if  they  would  ensure  their 
own  acceptance  and  salvation ;  this  was  a  thorough  and 
heartfelt  renunciation  of  their  wickedness,  and  a  sin- 
cere and  earnest  obedience  to  all  the  commands  of 
God.  In  the  concise  and  abrupt  style  of  the  prophet, 
it  is  not  expKcitly  stated  what  impression  his  faithful 
explanation  of  the  rec[uirements  of  God  produced;  but 
every  spiritual  mind  readily  perceives,  that  they,  who 
were  thus  instructed  and  exhorted,  are  supposed  to 
have  dihgently  heeded  all  that  was  advanced ;  to  have 
been  filled  with  strong  desires  for  hohness,  and  to 
have  made  earnest  eflbrts  to  discharge  the  duties 
which  were  enjoined.  But  far  different  were  the 
views  which  this  class  of  the  prophet's  hearers  enter- 
tained of  the  standard  at  which  God  required  them  to 
aim,  and  of  their  own  inability  to  comply  with  the 
divine  precepts,  from  those  with  which  that  portion  of 
the  people  were  possessed,  who,  we  have  seen,  thought 
that  mere  outward  reformation  and  a  specious  atten- 
tion to  certain  prescribed  duties  would  suffice.     They 


FREE  FORGIVENESS  OF  SIN.  6 

e^'iclentl}^  were  deeply  convicted  of  the  utter  failure 
of  all  their  attempts  to  please  and  glorify  their  God  ; 
they  had  sunk  into  the  very  depths  of  despondency, 
both  on  account  of  their  want  of  power  to  keep  the 
commandments  of  God,  and  of  their  being  unable  to 
rid  themselves  of  the  guilt  of  those  sins,  which  by 
their  frailty  they  had  committed.  It  was  just  when 
they  had  reached  this  state  of  self-despair,  regarding 
themselves  as  utterly  unfit  for  communion  with  the 
holy  God,  and  unable  to  qualify  themselves  for  such 
an  exalted  privilege — above  all,  not  seeing  how  it  was 
possible  for  the  just  God  to  pardon  iniquity,  that  the 
cheering  words  of  our  text  were  uttered :  ''  Come  now, 
and  let  us  reason  tosrether,  saith  the  Lord  :  though 
your  sins  be  as  scarlet,  they  shall  be  as  white  as 
snow ;  though  they  be  red  hke  crimson,  they  shall  be 
as  wool." 

Such,  then,  is  the  class  of  persons  whom  God  con- 
descendingly asks  to  come  and  confer  with  him. 
Those  of  you,  my  beloved  friends,  are  included  in  this 
invitation,  who  by  God's  Spirit  through  his  woi'd,  have 
been  deeply  impressed  with  your  own  sinfulness  and 
guilt,  your  own  utter  helplessness,  and  your  want 
of  power  to  comply  with  God's  requirements  in 
his  law,  and  who  under  these  convictions,  are  ready 
to  cry  out  in  despair,  "  What  must  we  do  ?"  It  is 
you,  whom  God  persuades  in  pur  text  to  come  and 
reason  with  him. 

But,  in  the  second  place.  What  is  the  snhjed  on 
7vhich  he  invites  yon  to  such  a  blessed  conference  ?  It  is 
nothing  else  than  the  assumnce,  with  which  he  follows 
up  his  invitation  to  you  to  come  and  reason  with  him. 


4  REASONS  FOR  THE 

The  subject  is  this  promise  inoiir  text;  "Though  your 
sins  be  as  scarlet,  they  shall  be  as  white  as  snow ; 
though  they  be  red  like  crimson,  they  shall  be  as 
wool." 

How  graciously  pertinent  and  full  too,  is  this  divine 
assurance  to  those  who  are  in  such  a  state  of  mind ! 
The  convictions  of  those  who  w^ere  here  addressed,  we 
are  now  prepared  to  admit,  corresponded  with  the 
charges,  which  the  Spirit,  through  the  prophet,  had 
just  made ;  they  saw  and  felt,  that  "  from  the  sole  of 
the  foot  even  unto  the  head,  there  Avas  no  soundness 
in  it,  but  wounds,  and  bruises,  and  putrifying  sores  : 
they  had  not  been  closed,  neither  bound  up,  neither 
mollified  with  ointment."  In  this  state  of  guilt  and 
loathsomeness,  of  which  they  had  only  become  consci- 
ous, by  God's  partial  disclosure  of  himself  to  them  in 
his  holiness  and  justice,  they  felt  wholly  unprepared 
to  be  admitted  to  his  fellowship,  or  e^en  to  appear 
before  his  eye.  Their  unsuccessful  attempts,  too,  to 
cleanse  themselves  from  their  pollutions,  had  only 
deepened  their  despondency.  How  unexpected,  how 
w^elcome,  then,  must  the  Avords  before  us  have  been, 
as  they  proceeded  from  the  mouth  of  God  !  Pity  and 
grace  then  filled  and  actuated  the  Almighty's  heart. 
Yet  there  is  no  attempt  on  his  ]3art  to  palliate  their 
convictions.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  clearly  implied, 
that  they  had  been  far  from  exaggerating  their  ill- 
desert  ;  their  sins  are  admitted,  as  you  perceive  in  our 
text  to  be  of  a  "  red"  hue,  which  had  always  been  re- 
cognized as  peculiarly  emblematical  of  guilt,  possibly 
from  the  fact  that  it  is  the  color  of  blood,  the  shedding 
of  which  has  in  every  age  been  considered  as  the 


FREE  FORGIVENESS  OF  SIN.  0 

greatest  of  crimes.  Hence,  it  was  that  the  heifer, 
which,  according  to  St.  Panl,  was  an  eminent  type  of 
Jesus  Christ  the  great  sin-bearer,  (and  the  mere  touch- 
ing of  wdiich  rendered  the  priest  unclean  till  evening,) 
was  required  to  be  of  unmixed  red ;  thus  intimating 
that  the  people  for  whom  it  was  typically  to  be 
offered  as  a  sacrifice,  Avere  sinners,  as  guilty  as  if 
their  hands  were  dyed  with  blood. 

But  the  Spirit  of  God  proceeds  on  the  supposition  in 
our  text,  that  the  sins  of  these  convicted  and  almost 
despairing  souls  were  of  the  deepest  red;  "though  your 
sins,"  saj^s  he,  "be  as  scarlet;  though  they  be  red  like 
crimson."  There  is,  therefore,  no  conceivable,  no  possible 
case  of  guilt  not  embraced  in  these  all-inclusive  Avords. 
If  the  soldier  that  pierced  the  side  of  our  breathless 
Lord  had  been  aware  whose  that  dead  body  was — if  he 
had  been  immersed  in  the  stream  which  issued  from  the 
wound,  and  had  come  to  reason  with  God  while  thus 
dyed  with  the  blood  of  the  Only-Begotten — yet  our 
text,  3'ou  observe,  makes  no  exception  to  him,  even 
while  his  hands  were  still  red  with  that  priceless 
blood.  There  is  no  description  of  sin  or  sinner  ex- 
cluded by  our  God  in  this  proclamation  of  his  grace  : 
the  profane,  with  all  his  heaven  daring  and  irreverence 
for  sacred  things ;  the  unfeeling,  with  all  his  murder- 
ous and  j)iratical  deeds ;  the  moral,  with  all  his  sins  of 
heart  against  light  and  conscience — whatever  peculiar 
enormity  each  may  perceive  in  his  own  case,  however 
desperate  each  may  consider  his  own  state — all,  all 
without  exception  are  comprehended  in  the  terms  of 
God's  free  grace  adopted  in  our  text ;  "  though  your 
sins  be  as  scarlet ;  though  they  be  red  hke  crimson." 


6  REASONS  FOR  THE 

Neither,  we  would  have  you  also  remark,  was  the 
remission  of  these  scarlet  and  crimson  sins  to  be  par- 
tial, or  superficial,  or  temporary,  or  future.  The  wash- 
ing to  which  they  would  be  subject  in  the  gracious 
interview  to  which  they  were  here  invited  by  God, 
would  result  in  no  modification  of  their  intensely  deep 
color,  so  that  they  should  become  of  a  paler  red :  those 
who  should  receive  the  assurance  were  to  be  "as  white 
as  snow,"  to  be  "  as  wool,"  the  well  known  emblems 
of  spotless  holiness  and  purity.  This  change  was  to 
be  wrought  not  only  in  appearance,  so  as  to  deceive 
man ;  but  it  was  to  be  real,  to  be  pronounced  such  by 
him,  to  whose  eye  all  things  are  open  and  naked.  It 
was  not  to  last  only  for  a  time ;  it  was  to  be  a  gift 
without  repentance  on  the  part  of  the  giver,  from  one 
with  whom  is  no  variableness  neither  shadow  of  turn- 
ing. It  was  not  to  be  postponed  to  a  distant  dayj 
the  invitation  was  "  Come  now."  It  is  surely,  then, 
the  most  boundless  and  unexceptionable  offer  of  mercy 
that  language  can  extend  or  thought  conceive.  Pro- 
ceeding, too,  directly  as  it  did  from  the  mouth  of  him 
with  wdiom  they  had  to  do,  all  that  remained  for  these 
guilty  and  despairing  souls  was  forthwith  to  rejoice 
and  accept.  One  would  think  it  needed  no  reasoning 
to  induce  them  to  accept  it.  Far  different,  however, 
was  the  reception  which  these  glad  tidings  met. 
It  seems  only  to  have  excited  unbelieving  hesitancy 
and  doubt :  for,  in  order  to  dispel  these,  they  are  in- 
vited to  come  and  reason  upon  the  subject  with  their 
God.  "  Come  now,  and  let  us  reason  together,  saith 
the  Lord ;"  it  shall  be  my  endeavor,  says  the  Lord,  to 
remove  the  objections  and  obstacles  which  you  raise 


FREE  FORGIVENESS  OF  SIN.  7 

against  j'our  own  full  salvation  and  my  free  grace ; 
and  to  convince  3'on,  that  if  my  offer  be  embraced, 
you  shall  realize  the  assurance  which  I  give.  The 
special  objections  which  these  unbelieving  and  despair- 
ing sinners  advanced  are  not  recorded  by  the  inspired 
pen;  neither  are  those  arguments  stated  by  which 
God  convinced  them  of  his  truthfulness  in  this  in- 
stance, and  of  his  uniform  readiness  to  forgive  those 
who  repent  and  turn.  These  can  merely  be  judged 
of,  by  the  light  which  experience  and  Scripture  throw 
upon  the  subject  generally.  Let  us,  then,  guided  by 
these,  inquire  with  all  possible  brevit}^,  in  the  third 
place : 

What  are  the  reamn'mgs  J)>/  which  the  convicted  soul 
estahlishes  itself  in  the  iinhelief  and  rejection  of  God's 
full,  free  and  explicit  offer  of  pardon ;  and  tvhat  are 
those  hj  which  God  strives  to  shoiv  it,  that  all  fears  and 
doubts  are  unfounded,  and  that  it  will  experience,  in  the 
very  act  of  trusting,  all  the  promised  grace. 

In  pointing  out  a  few  of  the  reasons  which  prevent 
a  man,  who  is  convicted  of  his  sins,  from  confiding  in 
God's  gracious  assurances  of  free  forgiveness,  we  by 
no  means  maintain,  that  he  is  conscious  of  them  him- 
self; much  less,  that  he  formally  pleads  them  before 
God,  as  an  excuse  for  his  want  of  faith ;  and  yet,  if 
these  secret  grounds  of  his  unbelief  were  removed, 
there  would  remain  nothing  on  which  it  could  rest. 
That  our  subject,  therefore,  may  present  itself  in  an 
effective  way,  let  us  consider  the  unbeliever  as  boldly 
urging  in  his  defence  the  real  causes  of  his  distrust. 

And,  first,  it  would  be  only  in  accordance  with  the 
true  state  of  the  case,  if  the  convicted  sinner  should 


8  REASONS  FOR  THE 

excuse  his  doubts  of  God's  free  forgiveness,  by  plead- 
ing the  voice  of  conscience  in  his  soul.  Nor  would  his 
argument  on  this  point  be  Vvithout  plausibihty  or 
apparent  force.  He  might  urge  something  like  the 
following  in  his  defence  :  "  Is  not  my  conscience  the 
best  inward  guide  that  my  fallen  nature  now  possesses  ? 
Whenever  I  have  strayed  from  the  path  of  duty,  it  has 
been  the  first  to  check  me,  nor  could  I  gain  its  appro- 
bation, until  I  had  ceased  to  do  the  evil,  and  began 
again  to  do  well.  Both  in  its  accusations  and  excuses 
it  has  proved  itself  a  fiiithful  friend.  I  have  thus  been 
led  to  regard  it  as  the  very  voice  of  God.  Moreover, 
through  its  agency,  I  have  been  brought  to  my  present 
sense  of  guilt.  In  vain  would  any  charges  from  an 
outward  source  have  been  laid  at  my  door,  unless  con- 
science had  taken  them  up  and  applied  them  inwardly, 
showed  their  justness  and  awakened  my  convictions 
and  fears.  I  would  now  have  been  recklessly  pursu- 
ing my  previous  course  of  sin,  instead  of  thus  con- 
demning myself,  if  I  had  not  been  apprehended  by 
conscience  and  dragged  before  the  bar  of  God.  Is  not 
this  faithful  representative,  therefore,  of  the  one  with 
whom  I  have  to  do,  worthy  of  my  confidence  ?  Now, 
whenever  I  attempt  to  lay  hold  upon  tlie  promise  of 
free  forgiveness  by  my  God,  there  is  a  whisper  from 
this  trustworthy  monitor  in  my  soul,  that  there  is  no 
way  of  escape  from  that  curse  which  I  have  brought 
upon  myself;  that  God  could  not  be  just,  if  he  should 
justify  such  a  transgressor  as  myself.  Now,'  God  hath 
said,  '  I  change  not.'  Can,  therefore,  his  word  in  the 
Gospel  contradict  his  voice  which  I  hear  in  my  own 
soul?     Must  there  not  be  some  misapprehension  or 


FREE  FORGIVENESS  OF  SIN.  9 

mistake  ?  Though  unable  to  detect  any,  and  hence 
in  a  strait  betwixt  two,  yet  it  is  safest  for  me  to  con- 
fide in  the  inward  voice  of  my  God,  if  what  professes 
to  be  his  outward  word  sets  itself  up  in  opposition. 
I  had  better  then,  sink  with  the  truth,  than  buoy  my- 
self with  a  false  hope." 

"  Nor,"  as  this  convicted  soul,  now  siding  with  God 
and  assiduously  bent  on  its  own  punishment  and  de- 
struction, may  well  continue,  "  Nor  is  this  all.  For 
the  very  km  of  God  itself,  as  contained  in  his  revealed 
word,  coincides  with  all  the  teachings  of  conscience  in 
this  matter.  It  is,  indeed,  because  the  law  met  me 
with  charges  and  denunciations,  that  conscience  itself 
became  enhghtened  and  raised  these  convictions  in  my 
soul.  '  Nay,  I  had  not  known  sin  but  by  the  huv :  for  I 
was  alive  without  the  law  once ;  but  when  the  command- 
ment came,  sin  revived  and  I  died.'  How  severe  and 
unexcepting  too,  are  the  denunciations  which  proceed 
from  the  mouth  of  the  great  Lawgiver :  ''  Whosoever 
shall  keep  the  whole  law,  and  yet  offend  in  one  point, 
he  is  guilty  of  all ;'  and  again,  '  Cursed  is  every  one 
that  continueth  not  in  all  things  written  in  the  book 
of  the  law  to  do  them.'  Here,  then,  is  the  very  word 
of  God  in  opposition  to  itself.  Should  I  not,  there- 
fore, receive  that  portion  of  the  Scripture  which 
agrees  with  all  of  God  that  there  is  left  in  my  fallen 
soul,  rather  than  with  that  vdiich  is  diametrically 
opposed  to  all  that  I  know  and  feel  ?" 

"  Besides,"  says  the  unbeliever,  bringing  his  reason- 
ings to  a  conclusion,  "  this  Gospel  revelation  of  a  God 
who  freely  forgives,  and  who  receives  the  sinner  into 
a  saving  and  close  relationship  with  lEmself,  is  con- 


10  REASONS  FOR  THE 

trary  to  evenj  concepUon  of  God  that  I  have  ever  formed, 
whether  I  consulted  my  own  understanding,  the 
teachings  of  nature,  or  what  I  read  of  him  in  many 
parts  of  his  own  word.  From  all  these  sources  I 
learn,  that  God  is  One,  who  '  will  by  no  means  clear 
the  guilty/  '  who  cannot  look  upon  iniquity,'  and 
^in  whose  sight  the  foolish  cannot  stand.'  These 
declarations  forever  exclude  me  from  his  presence 
and  favor.  For  I  recognize  in  myself  all  that  is  here 
denounced.  I  feel  myself  utterly  unworthy  of  his 
adoption  and  grace.  If,  moreover,  I  were  received 
into  fellowship  with  him,  I  could  not  enjoy  such 
communion;  my  soul  would  shrink  from  it,  as  my 
tastes  are  unholy,  and  my  fears  would  prompt  the 
cry  of  Peter,  if  God  should  draw  nigh,  '  Depart  from 
me,  0  Lord ;  for  I  am  a  sinful  man.'  IIow,  then, 
can  I  ever  he  expected  to  cast  my  soul  and  its  eter- 
nal interests  upon  the  bare  assurance  of  these  unqual- 
ified words :  '  Though  your  sins  be  as  scarlet,  they 
shall  be  as  white  as  snow ;  though  they  be  red  like 
crimson,  they  shall  be  as  wool  ?'  " 

Such,  then,  if  he  would  only  put  them  into  logical 
language  and  shape,  are  the  convicted  sinner's  reason- 
ings with  a  God  ready  to  pardon.  As  thus  put,  it  is 
indeed  a  strong  case  :  much  too  strong  to  be  set  aside 
by  his  own,  or  any  other  creature  strength.  Even 
the  reasons  wliich  God  urges  to  prove  the  possibility 
and  truthfulness  of  his  own  promise  of  forgiveness, 
will  fall  powerless  on  the  sinner's  ear,  unless  the  Holy 
Spirit  clothe  them  with  energy,  and  with  his  personal 
demonstration  apply  them  to  the  soul.  Earnestly 
praying,  then,  for  his   effectual  accompaniment,  and 


FREE  FORGIVENESS  OF  SIN.  11 

armed  with  liis  own  word,  I  will  Aentiire  here  to  1)0 
to  yon,  convicted  and  despairing  soul,  obstinate  and 
gloomy  in  your  unbelief,  to  be  to  you  in  God's  stead. 
and  in  his  behalf  to  repeat  the  invitation  in  our  text : 
"  Come-  now,  and  let  us  reason  together,  saith  the 
Lord." 

And  as  ta  sufficient  refutation  of  all  that  you 
have  said,  God  urges,  first,  the  authority  of  his  simple, 
ivord.  "1  am  not  a  man,"  saith  the  Lord,  "that  I 
should  He ;  nor  the  son  of  man  that  I  should  repent. 
Have  I  said,  and  shall  I  not  do  it  ?  Have  I  spoken, 
and  shall  it  not  come  to  pass  ?"  "  It  is  the  province  of 
becoming  humility  on  your  part  to  trust  with  an  un- 
shaken confidence  in  every  hope  that  I  hold  out,  in 
every  promise  that  I  make,  and  not  to  meet  it  with 
counter  reasonings  and  influences.  My  declarations 
and  requirements  and  purposes  must  necessarily  often 
appear  to  a  finite  understanding  like  yours,  to  clash 
w  ith  each  other.  Lender  such  cu'cumstances,  it  is  your 
privilege  to  hope  against  hope,  like  Abraham,  who,  when 
commanded  to  take  a  knife  to  slay  his  son,  obeyed, 
although  he  had  been  promised,  that  from  that  very 
same  son  an  innumerable  posterity  should  descend. 
This  necessity  of  trusting  me  implicitly  is  laid  upon 
you,  and  w^ill  be  through  eternity,  by  the  very  law  of 
}'our  created  being.  If  this  be  so  in  every  matter, 
how  emphatically  is  it  the  case  in  those  deep  things, 
on  wdiich,  to  your  own  discomfiture,  you  have  just 
presumptuously  dared  to  darken  counsel  by  words 
without  knowledge !  The  defence  of  your  unbelief 
was  devised  entirely  by  your  fallen  pride.  It  may 
appear  plausible  in  the  eyes  of  the  carnal.     It  may 


12  REASONS  FOR  THE 

serve  to  rivet  the  fetters  of  your  unbelief  and  con- 
demnation. It  might  justly  provoke  me  to  leave  you 
to  your  own  heart's  lustSj  and  to  the  despair  to  which 
3^ou  so  tenaciously  cling.  But  the  same  grace  which 
prompted  me  to  hold  out  the  hope  of  forgiveness,  in- 
duces me  to  remove  all  your  reasonings  by  pointing 
out  to  you  what  you  should  already  have  discovered 
in  the  Gospel,  that  the  province  of  the  law  and  of 
conscience,  and  of  all  those  disclosures  of  my  holiness 
and  justice  which  I  have  made,  either  in  my  w^ord  or 
in  any  other  way,  is,  so  far  as  the  salvation  of  my  re- 
deemed is  concerned,  only  to  work  in  them  the  pre- 
cise effect  which  you  profess  now  to  experience  in 
yourself — utter  despair  of  deliverance  by  any  attempt 
on  your  own  part  to  satisfy  my  claims.  They  Avere 
intended  simply  to  shut  you  up  unto  faith :  to  act  as 
a  schoolmaster  to  bring  you  unto  Christ,  that  you 
might  be  justified  by  faith.  To  the  foot  of  my  incar- 
nate Son's  cross  I  lead  you  in  the  Gospel.  On  it,  he 
bears  all  3^our  guilt.  He  has  been  made  a  curse  for 
3^ou,  to  redeem  you  from  the  curse  of  the  law.  As 
he  has  thus  been  made  a  propitiation  for  your  sins,  I 
may  yet  be  just,  though  I  justify  the  ungodly  who 
believe  in  Jesus.  You  thus  discover  the  grounds 
upon  which  the  justice  of  my  free  forgiveness  of  your 
sins  rests.  When,  therefore,  I  now  assure  you,  that 
'  though  your  sins  be  as  scarlet,  they  shall  be  as 
white  as  snow;  though  they  be  red  like  crimson,  they 
shall  be  as  wool,'  if  you  persist  in  unbelief,  you  are 
without  excuse ;  you  make  me  a  liar,  when  I  have 
humbled  myself  to  establish  my  truthfulness  by  an 
all-sufficient  reason ;  and  in  thus  sinning  against  your 


FREE  FORGIVENESS  OF  SIN.  13 

0"\vn  soul,  it  is  not  because  the  light  does  not  shine, 
but  because  you  shut  your  eyes  and  refuse  to  see." 

But,  in  effect,  God  in  the  Scriptures,  not  only 
offers  His  word  as  a  pledge  of  His  readiness  to  for- 
give, arid  points  to  His  crucified  Son,  as  a  rock  upon 
which  the  justice  and  truthfulness  of  His  grace  are 
built,  but  He  continues  His  reasonings  with  the  con- 
victed and  unbelieving  sinner  in  the  same  strain,  by 
remindinsr  him  trJw  and  ivhat  the  Redeemer  is.  "  Re- 
member,"  saith  God,  "  that  my  own  nature  is  person- 
ally connected  with  that  man,  who  is  set  forth  before 
you  in  the  Gospel  as  suspended  on  the  cross.  What 
object  can  be  conceived  as  sufficient  to  account  for 
such  a  humiliation  of  the  nature  of  God,  unless  it  be 
the  satisfaction  of  a  divine  claim  ?  What  claim  of  the 
kind  can  f)e  set  up,  unless  it  be  that  which  is  said  in 
the  Gospel  to  have  been  thus  met?  I  have  made 
Him  to  be  sin  for  you,  that  you  in  Him  might  fulfil 
all  the  demands  of  my  righteousness.  All  your  in- 
iquities were  made  to  meet  on  Him ;  He  bore  them 
in  His  own  body  on  the  tree.  I  point  to  the  cruci- 
fied body  of  my  only  begotten  Son,  not  merely  then, 
as  a  vindication  of  the  free  forgiveness  of  sin ;  but  I 
appeal  to  you,  if  the  free  forgiveness  of  sin  is  not  the 
only  reason  which  could  have  led  the  Son  of  God  to 
endure  this  accursed  death.  When,  therefore,  I  stand 
on  Calvary,  and  proclaim  to  all,  to  you,  '  though  your 
sins  be  as  scarlet,  they  shall  be  as  white  as  snow; 
though  they  be  red  like  crimson,  they  shall  be  as 
wool,' — the  sacrifice  which  has  been  oifered  jjroves 
my  sincerity  and  earnestness ;  and  all  hesitancy  and 
doubt  about  unreserved  acceptance  of  my  mcrty^  are 
unfounded  and  vain." 


14  REASONS  FOR  THE 

But,  finally,  God  urges  as  a  reason  for  lii.s  full  and 
free  forgiveness  of  scarlet  and  crimson  sins,  His  desire 
and  purpose  to  promoie  in  this  ivcnj^  His  oivn  glory.  "  I 
admit,"  saitli  God,  "in  accordance  with  my  own 
word,  that  I  love  the  world,  and  gave  my  only  begot- 
ten Son  for  it,  that  it  might  not  perish.  But  there 
is  a  higher  and  further  end  which  led  me  to  consent 
to  this  sacrifice,  and  which  prompted  me  to  make  and 
govern  the  worlds ;  '  I  have  made  all  things  for  my- 
self;''! have  created,  especially  all  who  are  to  be 
of  the  redeemed  house  of  Israel,  for  my  glory ;' '  they 
shall  show  forth  my  praise.'  When  I  was  blessed 
alone  in  eternity,  it  w\as  deemed  due  unto  myself,  to 
create  and  people  the  worlds,  that  I  might  show  them 
myself.  This  has  been  done  to  the  utmost,  by  exhib- 
iting each  one  of  my  blessed  attributes  in  the  highest 
possible  degree.  M}^  holiness  and  my  love,  are  wit- 
nessed by  the  blessed  spirits  around  my  throne  in 
heaven ;  who  cry  day  and  night,  '  Holy,  holy,  holy. 
Lord  God  of  hosts,  heaven  and  earth  are  full  of  thy 
glory.'  My  justice  is  displayed  in  hell,  where  the 
fallen  are  reserved  in  chains  under  darkness  to  the 
judgment  of  the  great  day.  My  incomprehensibleness 
is  manifest  in  every  place  and  act  and  thing ;  so  as  to 
excite  the  universal  exclamation :  '  0  the  depths  of 
the  riches,  both  of  the  wisdom  and  knowledge  of 
God !  how  unsearchable  are  His  judgments,  and  His 
ways  past  finding  out !' 

"  But  all  my  blessed  attributes,  as  they  previously 
shined,  have  been  eclipsed  in  the  execution  of  my 
[)lan  for  the  redemption  of  man ;  and  in  addition,  a 
property    of  my   nature,    which   had   hitherto   been 


FREE  FORGIVENESS  OF  SIN.  15 

hidden,  incomparably  more  attractive  than  all  my 
other  perfections,  was  here  so  conspicuously  revealed, 
that  my  holy  and  elect  angels  turn  away  their  eyes 
from  every  other  object,  and  desire  to  look  into  these 
things."  This  was  the  grace  and  mercy  of  the  just 
God  shown  to  the  rebelhous.  The  eftects  of  this  they 
dehght  to  promote  and  praise.  "  They  leave  my  upper 
courts,  and  descend  to  this  lower  world,  that  they 
may  sing,  'Peace  on  earth,  and  good-will  to  men. 
Glory  to   God  in  the  highest.' 

"  This  it  was,  which  caused  the  soul  of  my  beloved 
one  to  be  troubled.  It  was,  that  my  name  might  be 
glorified.  This  it  is,  which  prompts  me  in  the  Gospel 
to  point  you  to  the  Lamb  of  God  which  taketh  away 
sin.  Should  you  look  unto  Him  and  be  saved,  my 
glory  will  be  more  exalted,  than  if  you  had  never 
fallen,  and  I  had  blessed  you  in  your  holiness  through 
unending  ages.  You  will  be  forever  a  living  monu- 
ment of  my  wisdom,  power,  and  grace.  I  will  cm'Yy 
you  into  my  fold  rejoicing ;  and  there  will  be  joy,  in 
the  presence  of  the  angels  of  God,  over  your  repent- 
ing soul.  Wherefore  wonder  not,  and  perish;  but 
believe  my  assurance,  '  Though  your  sins  be  as  scar- 
let, they  shall  be  as  white  as  snow ;  though  they  be 
red  hke  crimson,  they  shall  be  as  wool.' " 

Such  then,  belo-\'ed  friends,  are  the  reasons  which 
God  urges  to  gain  your  confidence,  in  the  assurance 
of  His  grace.  Surely,  they  are  sufficient  to  convince 
you,  that  your  sins  cannot  exceed  His  mercy ;  that  He 
is  ready  to  fulfil  His  promise  in  our  text ;  and  that 
although  other  sins  merit  everlasting  death,  yet  that 
unbelief  in  God's  free  grace  is  the  only  sin,  which  can 


16  REASONS    FOR   THE 

damn  you,  and  every  other  sinner  in  Christian  lands. 
Is  it  not  evidently  too,  the  crowning  sin  ?  "  If  I  had 
not  come,  and  spoken  unto  them,"  said  Jesus,  "  they 
had  not  had  sin."  It  is  said  of  one,*  who  subsequent- 
ly wrote  a  treatise  on  Sanctification,  which  cannot  be 
appreciated  except  by  advanced  Christians,  that,  when 
he  came  first  under  the  conviction  of  his  sins,  he 
could  attain  no  peace,  although  he  consulted  many 
ministers  of  Christ.  All  their  Scriptural  expositions 
and  assurances  of  God's  readiness  to  forgive,  afiorded 
no  relief;  as  he  insisted  that  his  sins  transcended  all. 
At  length  he  came  to  a  distinguished  man  of  God,f 
who  requested  him  to  go  over  the  catalogue  of  his  sins, 
which  he  thought  were  unpardonable.  When  he  had 
completed  this,  and  had  presented  indeed  a  black  and 
formidable  hst ;  the  only  reply  which  he  received  was, 
"You  have  forgotten  the  worst  of  all."  "What  is 
that  ?"  said  the  self-condemning  inquirer.  The  answer 
w^as,  "  Unbelief  in  Jesus  Christ."  The  timely  reproof 
was  felt  and  savingly  appHed.  He  mixed  faith  with 
Jesus,  as  He  is  set  forth  in  the  Gospel ;  and  imme- 
diately "  accepted  in  the  beloved,"  he  went  on  his 
way  rejoicing. 

So,  too,  convicted  and  despairing  soul,  if  you  would 
be  persuaded  of  the  falseness  and  sinfulness  of  all  the 
reasons  for  your  unbelief;  if  you  w^ould  cast  an  eye 
of  faith  upon  Jesus,  as  the  Lamb  which  was  sacrificed 
in  your  stead,  you  would  realize  God's  promise; 
"  though  your  sins  w^ere  as  scarlet,  they  should  be  as 
white  as  snow ;  though  they  were  red  like  crimson, 
they  should  be  as  wool." 

*  Marshall.  f  Thomas  Goodwin. 


FREE  FORGR^ENESS  OF  SIN.  17 


SEEMON  II. 


SOVEREIGN  AND  EFFECTUAL  GRACE. 


1  Cor.  iv.  7. 


"Who  maketh  thee  to  differ  from  another?  and  what  hast  thou 
that  thou  didst  not  receive  ?  now,  if  thou  didst  receive  it, 
wry  dost  thou  glorv  as  if  thou  hadst  not  received  it?" 

The  special  occasion  whicli  gave  rise  to  these  ques- 
tions was  this  :  In  that  carnal  state  of  feeling,  which 
was  prevalent  in  the  Corinthian  Church,  the  gifts  and 
graces  of  the  various  apostles  and  ministers  were  in- 
juriously  compared    and    lauded.      Partisan   cliques 
were  thus  formed ;  one  boasting  it  was  of  Paul,  while 
another  professed  to  follow  ApoUos,  and  a  thii'd  re- 
garded Cephas  as  its  head.     It  was  the  object  of  our 
apostle  to  denounce  this  man-exalting,  and  God-dis- 
honoring spirit;  and  to  induce  his  feUow-disciples  to 
look  upon  the  ministry  from  which  they  had  derived 
any  spiritual  benefit,  as  simply  the  channel  through 
which  sovereign  grace  had  chosen  to  flow  into  their 
souls.     "Who,  then,"  he  asks,  "is  Paul,  and  who  is 
Apollos,  but  ministers  by  whom  ye  believed,  even  as 
the  Lord  gave  to  every  man  ?    I  have  planted,  Apollos 
watered;    but   God   gave   the   increase.      So,   then, 
neither   is   that  planteth  anything,  neither  he  that 
watereth ;  but  God  that  giveth  the  increase." 
2 


18  SOVEREIGN  AND  EFFECTUAL  GRACE. 

The  different  styles  of  preaching,  therefore,  by  which 
Paul  and  his  faithful  brethren  were  characterized,  and 
the  different  degrees  of  success  with  which  their  several 
ministries  were  crowned,  were  alike  the  gifts  of  God ; 
and  it  was  the  duty  and  privilege  of  every  believer  to 
regard  these  matters  in  this  Mght.  The  blessed  con- 
sequences which  would  result  from  such  an  estimate 
of  the  effectual  character  of  God's  agency,  and  of  the 
mere  instrumentality  of  men,  were  obvious.  By  w^hat 
a  self-emptied  spirit  would  every  minister  then  be 
possessed,  regarding  every  talent  with  which  he  was 
endued  as  a  mere  gift  of  God  to  be  employed  for  the 
glory  of  the  giver ;  contented  with  that  share  of  power 
which  had  been  entrusted  to  his  charge,  be  it  large  or 
smaU;  exercising  it  gladly  in  that  sphere  to  which 
Providence  had  assigned  him,  be  it  conspicuous  or 
obscure,  and  more  or  less  confined ;  and  hopefully 
looking  forward  to  that  day  which  shall  try  every 
man's  work  of  what  sort  it  is,  and  in  which  God  shall 
crown  not  our  merits,  but  his  own  gifts.  "While  the 
ministry,  moreover,  would  be  thus  distinguished  hy 
poverty  of  spirit,  the  people  would  be  proportionately 
blessed.  They  would  not  be  limited  to  any  particular 
human  source,  nor  confined  in  the  benefit  which  they 
derived  from  it  to  their  own,  or  any  other  creature's, 
wit;  but  God  would  be  the  inexhaustible  fountain, 
from  which  all  human  and  creatm-e  ministries  would 
be  streams  conveying  rich  blessings  to  their  souls. 
"Therefore,"  saith  the  apostle,  "let  no  man  glory  in 
men.  For  all  things  are  yours ;  whether  Paul,  or 
ApoUos,  or  Cephas,  or  the  world,  or  life,  or  death,  or 


SOVEREIGN  AND  EFFECTUAL  GRACE.  19 

tilings  present,  or  things  to  come ;  all  arc  yours  j  and 
ye  are  Christ's ;  and  Christ  is  God's," 

We  thus  see,  what  the  apostle  intimates  in  our  im- 
mediate context,  that  it  was  no  particular  and  tempo- 
rary circumstance  which  he  was  here  adjusting,  but 
a  paramount  and  general  principle,  to  be  applied  in 
every  age.  "  These  things,  brethren,"  saith  he,  "  I 
have  in  a  figure  transferred  to  myself  and  to  Apollos 
for  your  sakes ;  that  ye  might  learn  in  us  not  to 
think  of  men  above  that  which  is  written,  that  no  one 
of  you  be  puffed  up  for  one  against  another."  And, 
then,  he  confirms  all  his  reasonings  and  conclusions 
by  a  personal  appeal  in  our  text  to  their  own  ex- 
perience, to  their  own  conscious  indebtedness  to  the 
distinguishing  grace  of  God  for  all  that  they  were 
and  all  that  they  possessed;  saying,  "  For  who  maketh 
thee  to  differ  from  another?  and  what  hast  thou  that 
thou  didst  not  receive  ?  now,  if  thou  didst  receive  it, 
why  dost  thou  glory  as  if  thou  hadst  not  received  it?" 

It  was,  then,  a  most  authorized  application  of  this 
Scripture  which  Augustine  frequently  made  in  his 
controversy  with  Pelagius,  and  by  which  he  showed 
what  our  tenth  article  teaches,  that  "the  condition 
of  man  after  the  fall  of  Adam  is  such,  that  he  cannot 
turn  and  prepare  himself,  by  his  own  natm\al  strength 
and  good  works,  to  faith,  and  calling  upon  God." 
With  such  abundant  success,  moreover,  was  this 
champion  of  the  truth  crowned,  that  no  one  in 
the  nominal  Chiu'ch  of  Christ  is  even  yet  willing 
to  be  known  as  occupying  the  ground  originall}^ 
assumed  by  the  ancient  heretic  whom  he  opposed 
—  the  name  of  Pelagian  is  universally  cast  out  a.s 


20  SOVEREIGN  AND  EFFECTUAL  GRACE. 

a  bye-word  and  reproach,  and  tlie  advocates  of 
the  sufficiency  of  unassisted  human  nature  are  not 
allowed  to  present  any  claims  to  Christian  orthodoxy. 
But  the  root  of  the  error  obviously  lay  in  that  pride 
which  is  the  characteristic  of  fallen  men,  common  alike 
to  the  most  ignorant  and  debased  as  well  as  to  the 
most  learned  and  exalted ;  and  the  controversy  of  a 
single  age,  however  memorable,  could  not  eradicate 
this.  It  might  be  thus  forced  to  change  its  name  and 
phase,  but  it  would  be  only  to  spring  up  in  a  new 
and  more  plausible  shape.  Nothing  but  a  thorough 
humbUng,  an  absolute  change,  of  the  nature  of  man, 
can  bring  him  to  rely  upon  the  distinguishing  and 
sovereign  grace  of  that  God  whom  he  distrusts. 
Under  one  pretext  or  another,  in  avowed  defence  of 
some  important  and  acknowledged  truth,  and  with 
certain  evangelical  assumptions,  the  old  error  might 
be  expected  to  reappear.  Accordingly,  to  go  no  fur- 
ther back,  soon  after  the  Reformation,  the  advocates 
of  every  man's  ability  to  believe  in  Christ  and  to 
serve  God,  were  organized  into  a  popular  and  growing 
party. — But  then  it  was  maintained  that  we  were  pos- 
sessed of  this  power  not  by  nature,  for  this  we  lost  in 
the  Fall,  but  by  grace,  secured  to  us  through  Christ, 
and  in  the  promise  which  accompanied  the  curse,  when 
our  first  parents  were  shut  out  of  the  garden  of  Eden. 
The  doctrine,  thus  modified,  traced,  you  perceive,  its 
origin  to  the  Gospel,  and  did  it  apparent  reverence ; 
while,  at  the  same  time,  it  offered  a  plausible  defence 
to  God's  justice,  in  requiring  obedience  of  man,  and 
also  afforded  tenable  ground  for  maintaining  the  re- 
sponsibility of  man  for  whatever  he  omitted  of  what 


SOVEREIGN  AND  EFFECTUAL  GRACE.  21 

was  right,  or  committed  of  what  was  wrong.  But  in 
this  humanly-devised  theory,  what  room  is  left  for  the 
sovereignty  of  God — a  truth  fundamental  in  its  nature, 
and,  when  rightly  understood,  so  essential  to  the  glory 
of  the  King  of  Heaven  and  to  the  blessedness  of  every 
godly  creature — a  truth  so  universally  and  unquali- 
fiedly taught  in  the  word  of  revelation?  If  ever}^ 
man  possess  a  grace  which  he  may  use  so  as  to  ensure 
his  salvation,  and  if  he  be  left  in  the  use  of  that  grace 
to  himself,  or  to  the  appliances  of  those  means  which 
are  common  to  all,  then  when  any  one  becomes  united 
to  Christ  and  endued  with  a  saving  hope,  what  force 
would  there  be  in  inquiring  of  him,  "Who  maketli 
thee  to  differ  from  another  ?  and  what  hast  thou  that 
thou  didst  not  receive  ?  now,  if  thou  didst  receive  it, 
why  dost  thou  glory  as  if  thou  hadst  not  received  it  ?" 
Under  whatever  plea  such  a  doctrine  be  advanced, 
and  whether  or  not  it  be  supposed  necessary  to  de- 
fend the  justice  of  God  and  the  responsibility  of  man, 
it  applies  the  axe  to  the  root  of  the  divine  sovereignt3^ 
It  ascribes  the  diiference  between  the  behever  and 
the  unbeliever  to  the  use  by  the  first,  and  the  disuse 
by  the  last,  of  a  power  which  they  both  in  common 
have.  God  is  thus  dethroned,  ground  for  human 
glorying  is  discovered,  and  the  inspired  apostle  is 
proved  to  be  a  false  teacher.  Besides,  what  grace  is 
there  in  the  bestowment  of  a  power  upon  us,  with 
wliich  we  must  necessarily  be  endued  if  God  Avould 
lay  any  claim  to  justice  ?  what  grace  is  there  in  sal- 
vation, when  we  attain  salvation  by  the  use  of  a  power 
wdiich  we  must  possess,  if  God  would  hold  us  respon- 
sible ?     Salvation,  in  such  a  view  of  it,  is  no  longer  of 


22  SOVEREIGN  AND  EFFECTUAL  GRACE. 

grace,  but  of  debt.  Again,  what  fallen  human  sinner 
ever  found  acceptance  with  God,  or  obtained  any 
divine  favor,  who  did  not  approach  the  majesty  of 
heaven  with  a  spirit  which  acknowiedged  that  the 
blessing  might  be  forever  withheld,  and  that  no  prayer 
Avhich  he  could  offer  by  any  strength  imparted  to  all 
who  are  born  under  a  gracious  economy,  would  ever 
jjrocure  a  hearing?  Oh!  brethren,  Arminianism  is 
only  Pelagianism  modified,  evangelized,  and  rendered 
more  dangerous,  because  it  is  equally  poisonous,  wdiile 
it  is  gilded. 

An  Arminian  in  heart  is  allowed,  in  the  guise 
of  the  Gospel,  to  sit  in  peace  upon  the  throne  of 
God,  from  which  he  would  have  been  hurled  as  a 
usurper  if  he  had  ascended  it  as  an  avowed  Pelagian. 
This  has  been  extensively  seen  and  felt,  and  the  ne- 
cessity therefore  arose  for  another  modification  of  the 
old  error ;  and  in  our  own  day  a  party  has  accordingly 
been  organized  under  the  name  of  the  New  School. 

These  honestly  acknowledge  that  the  power  to 
believe  and  to  obey  God,  which  the  Arminians 
claim  has  been  conferred  by  grace  upon  every  fallen 
child  of  Adam,  can  in  no  proper  sense  be  regarded  as 
a  gift  of  grace ;  but  then  they  boldly  maintain  the  old 
Pelagian  error,  that  every  man  has  this  power  by 
nature,  and  that,  by  the  very  constitution  of  his  moral 
being,  it  can  never  be  alienated  from  him,  but  must 
remain  his  throughout  eternity.  But,  then,  they  have 
engrafted  on  this  Pelagian  stock,  as  a  shoot,  the  sem- 
blance of  an  evangelical  idea,  in  teaching  that  no  man 
ever  exercises  this  power  unless  he  is  induced  to  do 
so  by  the  sovereign  Spirit  of  God.     But  this  mixture 


SOVEREIGN  AND  EFFECTUAL  GRACE.  23 

of  man's  invention  with  God's  revelation  works  badly. 
The  Pelagian  part  of  it  is  based  on  many  fundamental 
errors,  and  leads  to  the  saddest  consequences.  By  all 
who  hold  it,  the  evil  effects  of  the  Fall  must  be  con- 
sidered as  much  slighter  than  they  really  are,  and  the 
actual  relations  in  which,  as  the  children  of  Adam,  we 
stand  to  God,  must,  in  the  creeds  of  such  persons,  be 
essentially  modified.  There  is  no  room  left  in  the 
conceptions  of  such,  for  an  appreciation  of  that  infinite 
and  everlasting  curse  of  God,  affecting  every  feehng 
and  faculty  of  its  objects,  and  resting  upon  every  par- 
taker of  the  fallen  human  nature  as  such ;  and  which, 
as  God  imposed,  none  but  He,  by  a  sovereign  act,  can 
remove.  The  main  efforts  in  conversion  of  those  who 
adopt  this  new  error,  are  directed  to  the  arousing  into 
action  of  a  power  in  man  which  does  not  exist,  and 
their  appeals  to  this  end  are  of  a  philosophical  and 
human,  and  not  of  an  evangelical  character.  Man  is 
most  generally,  if  not  exclusively,  directed  to  stir  up 
himself,  instead  of  his  eye  being  directed  to  Christ, 
that  he  may  be  endued  with  the  divine  strength  of 
the  Holy  Spirit:  for  why  should  he  be  looking  for 
foreign  assistance,  when  he  has  an  adequate  power, 
native  and  inward?  and  the  result  is,  that  the  only 
conversion  which  the  disciples  of  such  teachers  are 
apt  to  have,  is  that  which  they  give  themselves  in 
the  exercise  of  their  own  powers ;  they  purpose  to 
lead  a  new  and  holy  life,  and  only  become  in  many 
respects  reformed.  Notwithstanding  their  qualified 
admission  in  theory  of  the  necessity  of  divine  assist- 
ance, practically,  each  makes  liimself  to  difler  from 
another,  and  glories  as  if  he  had  not  (and  alas !  it  is 


24  SOVEREIGN  AND  EFFECTUAL  GRACE. 

but  too  evident  in  many  cases  that  lie  has  not)  re- 
ceived it. 

With  what  different  views  our  inspired  apostle  re- 
garded the  matter  of  his  own  spiritual  necessity  by 
nature,  and  of  his  indebtedness  to  unhelped  sovereign 
grace,  is  obvious  from  the  text,  and  might  be  almost 
indefinitely  shown  by  such  passages  as  these  :  "  God," 
saith  he,  "who  is  rich  in  mercy,  for  his  great  love 
wherewith  he  loved  us,  even  when  we  were  dead  in 
sins,  hath  quickened  us  together  with  Christ,  (by  grace 
are  ye  saved ;)  .  .  .  for  by  grace  are  ye  saved  through 
faith ;  and  that  not  of  yourselves :  it  is  the  gift  of 
God."  "  So,  then,"  concludeth  he  in  another  place,  "  it 
is  not  of  him  that  willeth,  nor  of  him  that  runneth, 
but  of  God  that  showeth  mercy ;"  and  again,  "  By  the 
grace  of  God  I  am  what  I  am."  In  what  perfect  ac- 
cordance with  these  acknowledgments  and  teachings 
of  the  great  apostle  is  that  confession  of  one  of  our 
Protestant  English  Reformers — now  become  univer- 
sally standard  and  current  in  the  Church — who,  as  he 
saw  a  convict  driven  in  a  cart,  with  a  halter  round  his 
neck,  to  the  place  of  execution,  exclaimed :  "  There 
goes  John  Bradford,  if  it  were  not  for  the  grace  of 
God."  Oh!  brethren,  when  the  film  which  is  over 
o\M  natural  eye  has  been  in  like  manner  removed  by 
the  Great  Physician,  and  our  vision  becomes  equally 
clear — how  startling  is  our  first  insight  into  the  spirit- 
ual world !  and  with  what  fear  and  trembhng  do  we 
proceed !  AVe  see  the  reins,  which  restrain  the  mad- 
ness that  is  in  every  natural  heart,  in  the  hands  of 
God  !  We  account  for  that  wickedness  of  a  fellow-man, 
which  is  to  be  punished  b}^  the  judge,  by  the  loosen- 


SOVEREIGN  AND  EFFECTUAL  GRACE.  25 

ino'  of  the  divine  reins  in  his  case,  and  for  that  moral 
life  in  another,  which  is  the  praise  and  envy  of  society, 
by  the  tightemng  of  the  same  !  Whenever  the  sword 
of  the  powers  that  be  is  unsheathed  against  a  culprit, 
we  behold  in  it  a  providence,  by  which  God  shows 
what  fallen  men  naturally  are,  by  which  He  points 
out  an  instance  of  what  all  would  do,  and  to  what  aU 
would  be  brought,  if  they  were  unrestrained  !  In  every 
such  case,  the  Christian  becomes  the  executioner,  be- 
cause he  sides  with  the  holy  and  just  King  of  Heaven 
against  those  whose  fallen  nature  is  his  own !  he  does 
it  with  the  momentous  conviction  in  his  breast,  that 
if  that  divine  Spirit  who  has  hitherto  restrained  and 
sanctified  him  be  withdrawn,  the  rope  which  he,  as  an 
officer  of  justice,  now  draws,  may  soon  be  in  another's 
hands,  while,  like  the  Hfeless  culprit  before  him  and 
for  a  similar  offence,  his  own  body  is  suspended  as  a 
spectacle  in  that  place  of  blood  ! 

These,  indeed,  are  radical  truths,  and  deeply 
offensive  to  the  carnal  mind.  JNIany  are  the  ob- 
jections urged  against  them ;  and  strong  the  fears 
which  are  entertained  of  their  tendency.  The  mo- 
ralist, the  philanthropist,  and  statesman  are  ready 
to  exclaim:  "Of  what  use,  then,  is  it  to  incid- 
cate  the  lessons  of  vu*tue,  and  to  promise  rewards, 
and  to  threaten  punishments?"  To  this  we  reply, 
that  teaching  men  their  duty,  and  the  use  of  pro- 
mises and  threats,  are  part  of  the  outward  means 
which  God  employs  to  restrain  His  fallen  creatures 
from  wrong  and  to  lead  them  in  the  right  way ;  but 
that  the  Success  or  foilure  of  these  means  depends 
upon  His  giving  or  withholding  His  unseen  and  spirit- 


26  SOVEREIGN  AND  EFFECTUAL  GRACE. 

ual  hell).  But.  again,  it  is  asked,  "  What  room  is  left, 
on  the  suj^position  of  these  views,  for  the  accounta- 
bility of  man  ?"  To  this  we  answer,  That  the  judicial 
sentence  by  w^hich  the  partakers  of  our  fallen  nature 
vrere  justly  doomed  to  be  the  slaves  of  sin,  by  no 
means  reheved  them  from  responsibihty  for  those  sins 
which  they  might  commit  under  it.  The  curse  was 
brought  upon  our  nature  by  itself.  But,  again,  it  may 
be  inquired :  "  Is  there  not  danger  that  these  doc- 
trines may  induce  the  wicked  to  throw  off  all  restraint ; 
to  account  for  their  own  crimes  by  their  lack  of  a 
divine  check;  and  to  offer  an  unanswerable  plea  for 
their  own  impunit}^  to  those  who  may  be  tempted  like 
themselves  ?"  But  we  would  rejoin,  he  sees  not  far, 
he  has  but  a  poor  defence,  who  trusts  in  moral  suasion 
or  in  human  force,  and  who  does  not  place  his  confi- 
dence against  outbursts  of  violence  from  men  in  that 
God  of  our  salvation,  who  stilleth  the  tumult  of  the 
people.  Nor  can  the  alleged  plea  of  those  who  do 
wickedly,  be  allowed  in  arrest  of  judgment  by  us, 
who  profess  to  be  the  officers  of  God,  appointed  to 
punish  those  who  are  left  to  develope  in  action  the 
principles  of  that  fallen  and  cursed  nature  which  we 
all  in  common  have. 

But  the  point,  which  more  immediately  concerns 
us,  is  to  show.  How  such  views  of  the  supreme 
and  overshadowing  control  of  the  divine  power  are 
consistent  with  any  attempts  or  efforts  to  make  and 
perpetuate  our  peace  with  God.  To  this  we  answer, 
that  St.  Paul,  who  exalted  grace  to  its  due  pre- 
eminence, experienced  no  difhculty  here.*  On  the 
contrary,  he  derived  encouragement  for  exerting  our- 


SOVEREIGN  AND  EFFECTUAL  GRACE.  27 

selves  to  the  utmost,  and  that,  too,  in  the  right 
and  proper  spirit,  from  the  fact  that  we  were  wholly 
dependent  upon  divine  strength.  "  Work  out,"  saith 
he,  "  your  salvation  with  fear  and  trembling ;  for  it  is 
God  who  worketh  in  you  both  to  will  and  to  do  of 
His  good  pleasure."  Nor  is  this  reasoning  of  the  in- 
spired pen,  in  the  least  illogical.  A  perception  and 
consciousness  of  the  truth  that  God  must  work  in  us 
if  any  thing  is  to  be  wrought  effectually  for  our  sal- 
vation, are  well  calculated  to  urge  us  to  the  most 
strenuous  exertions,  and  that,  too,  in  the  only  proper 
frame  of  mind  :  to  make  us  work  with  fear  and  trem- 
bling. God  works  not  in  us  mechanically,  as  steam 
moves  the  different  parts  of  an  engine.  If  He  did, 
then,  we  might  well  wait  for  an  impulse  which  would 
compel  and  drag  our  souls.  But  our  Maker,  when 
He  influences  us,  violates  none  of  the  laws  of  that 
moral  constitution  with  which  He  originally  endued 
us.  He  works  in  perfect  accordance  with  them.  It 
is  not  easy,  even  if  it  be  possible,  always  to  distin- 
guish between  the  effects  of  the  operations  of  God's 
Spirit  within  us,  and  the  workings  of  our  own  minds 
or  the  emotions  of  our  own  hearts.  More  particularly, 
is  it  difficult  to  separate  between  the  first  steps  of 
that  operation  by  which  the  Spirit  of  God  is  about  to 
translate  a  soul  out  of  nature's  darkness  into  the  mar- 
vellous hght  of  the  Gospel,  and  the  feelings  and  con- 
duct of  many  who  yet  live  and  die  in  their  sins.  So 
far  as  the  powers  of  man  are  competent  to  describe, 
the  experiences  of  many  who  come  short  and  of  others 
who  enter  the  kingdom  of  heaven  are,  up  to  a  certain 
point,  precisely  similar.     Could  the  convictions  of  sin 


28  SOVEREIGN  AND  EFFECTUAL  GRACE. 

be  apparently  deeper,  or  the  cries  for  mercy  more 
heart-rending,  than  are  often  felt  and  uttered  by  those 
who  3^et  ultimately  cast  off  all  fear,  and  restrain  prayer 
before  God  ?  Are  not  those,  who  are  proved  by  the 
result  to  be  of  such  as  God  hath  chosen  for  Himself, 
and  whom  the  Spirit  has  begun  to  lead  to  Christ, 
often  left  in  exactly  the  same  distressing  situation  for 
a  long  period  ?  Sometimes  they  are  on  the  very  verge 
of  despair.  So  far  from  being  conscious  that  they 
possess  divine  helj)  and  are  under  divine  guidance, 
they  fear  that  they  are  deserted  for  ever  by  God,  and 
that  their  day  of  grace  is  spent.  They  are  led  by 
weeping  and  supplications.  When  they  attain  the 
gift  of  faith,  and  become  the  accepted  children  of  God 
in  Christ  Jesus — when  %ey  are  made  by  the  SjDirit  of 
God  to  differ  from  their  former  selves,  and  from  their 
still  impenitent  and  unbelieving  fellow-men,  —  then 
they  are  taught  by  revelation,  and  by  a  consciousness 
of  their  natural  aversion  from  those  things  which  they 
so  earnestly  sought,  to  recognize  and  appreciate  the 
presence  and  operation  of  the  Holy  Ghost  even  in  that 
bitter  experience,  on  account  of  which  they  feared 
that  His  help  had  been  forever  forfeited.  Then  they 
perceive  that  their  first  feehng  of  spiritual  necessity, 
their  first  desu^e  for  that  salvation  which  Jesus  affords, 
the  first  petition  for  pardon  wliich  they  offered,  and 
every  step  up  to  and  including  that  act  of  faith  in 
their  redeeming  Lord,  by  which  they  were  justified 
and  introduced  into  the  family  of  God — all  proceeded 
from  a  divine  source.  Then  they  testify  with  Paul : 
"  Not  by  works  of  righteousness  which  we  have 
done,  but  according  to  His  mercy  He  saved  us,  by 


SOVEREIGN  AND  EFFECTUAL  GRACE.  29 

tlie  washing  of  regeneration  and  renewing  of  tlie  Holy 
Ghost."  Such,  then,  are  the  blessed  effects  of  the 
Scriptural  doctrine  of  divine  agency  in  all  that  is  pre- 
liminary to  the  union  of  the  soul  by  faith  to  Christ. 

Does  not  this  doctrine,  therefore,  when  properly 
understood  and  not  wilfully  perverted,  lead  every  im- 
penitent man  to  cultivate  all  the  aspirations  for  pardon 
and  salvation  that  he  feels — lest,  in  shaking  them  off, 
for  aught  he  knows,  he  may  be  endeavoring  to  resist 
the  special  grace  of  God,  and  is  certainly  enhancing 
his  own  guilt,  and  fitting  himself  for  a  deeper  destruc- 
tion ?  Every  anxious  inquii^er,  whose  mind  is  rightly 
instructed  on  the  point  before  us,  must  be  induced  to 
persevere  in  his  efforts  to  find  Christ,  by  the  very 
hope,  that  all  his  inward  and  outward  wa-estUngs  with 
God  for  the  blessing,  originated  with,  and  are  strength- 
ened by  Him,  who  alone  maketh  any  fallen  man  to 
differ,  in  essential  and  saving  points,  from  another. 
Moreover,  in  all  the  subsequent  experience  of  the 
Christian  man,  what  but  the  happiest  consequences 
legitimately  flow  from  the  fullest  reception  and  acting 
upon  the  doctrine,  that  if  he  is  to  make  any  compara- 
tive progress  in  his  spiritual  course,  it  must  be  God 
who  shall  make  him  to  differ  ?  Is  poverty  of  spirit  a 
blessed  grace  ?  But  this  can  only  consist  with  a 
thorough  consciousness  on  om^  part,  that  we  are  our 
own  worst  enemies,  and  that  all  the  strength  which 
we  have  is  to  our  own  injury. 

We  are  thus  led  to  fear  and  tremble,  to  run  from 
under  our  own  shelter,  and  to  find  our  covert  under 
the  Almighty's  wings.  Nor  can  any  who  enjoy  such 
close  and  gracious  protection  from  God,  be  indiflerent 


30  SOVEREIGN  AND  EFFECTUAL  GRACE. 

to  the  will  of  tlieir  cliAdne  shield;  they  cannot  but 
have  a  zeal  for  God ;  they  will  be  ready  to  do  his 
every  bidding;  they  cannot  choose  but  work,  in 
accordance  with  every  impulse  which  grace  excites ; 
nor  is  it  possible  for  them  to  work  languidly  and  de- 
spairingly;  the  consciousness  that  God  is  their  helper, 
will  inspire  them  with  courage ;  in  every  conflict,  the}^ 
will  be  certain  of  success,  because  He  that  is  for  them 
is  more  than  all  that  are  against  them. 

AVith  what  an  assurance  of  final  perseverance  must 
they  be  blessed,  who  possess  the  spirit  wdth  which  the 
questions  in  our  text  were  conceived  and  penned  !  In 
that  image  of  God,  which  has  been  reproduced  in  their 
souls,  they  recognize  the  workmanship  of  their  hea- 
venly Father.  It  is  a  gift  from  Him  whose  gifts  are 
without  repentance.  The  w^ork  by  which  they  Avere 
made  to  differ  from  others,  was  done  by  God,  and  they 
know  it  must  be  for  ever :  He  who  began  it  in  them, 
will  carry  it  on  until  the  day  of  Jesus  Christ.  With 
what  dependence  upon,  with  what  gratitude  to  God, 
will  breasts  like  these  be  characterized  and  swayed ! 
The  language  of  their  heart  will  ever  be,  "  If  thy  pre- 
sence go  not  with  us,  carry  us  not  up  hence ;"  and 
"Not  unto  us,  0  Lord!  not  unto  us,  but  unto  thy 
name  give  glory,  for  thy  mercy  and  for  thy  truth's 
sake."  Oh!  brethren  in  Christ,  if  you  covet  for  your- 
selves, in  all  their  fulness,  the  graces  and  joys  of  the 
redeemed — if  you  would  feel  and  exhibit  the  charity 
which  fallen  fellow-men  may  well  expect  at  your 
hands — if  you  w^ould  not  lessen  or  decry  the  debt 
under  which  you  are  laid  by  the  love  and  mercy  of 
your  God,  in  no  sentiment  or  act  of  your  lives  give 


SOVEREIGN  AND  EFFECTUAL  GRACE.  31 

any  occasion  to  be  remonstrated  with  in  the  words  of 
our  text :  "  Who  maketh  thee  to  differ  from  another  ? 
or  what  hast  thou  that  thou  didst  not  receive  ?  Now, 
if  thou  didst  receive  it,  why  dost  thou  glory  as  if  thou 
hadst  not  received  it  ?" 

But,  finally,  is  there  any  one  now  present  who  de- 
spises those  blessings  which  the  distinguisliing  grace 
of  God  confers — who  ignores  the  way  in  which  it  has 
been  explained  to  him  that  the  Spirit  of  God  works  in 
a  fallen  soul,  and  Avho  bases  the  defence  of  his  inac- 
tion or  opposition  on  the  fact  that  God  only  can  make 
him  to  differ  from  what  he  is  by  nature — determining, 
therefore,  to  wait  until  he  is  brought  by  God  to  a  better 
mind,  or  fearlessly  inquiring,  "  Why,  then,  doth  God 
yet  find  fault  ?"  "  Who  art  thou,  oh  !  man,"  says  our 
apostle  to  such  a  one,  "  that  repliest  against  God  ?" 
and  we  would  add,  your  reasonings  and  conclusions 
may  seem  to  be  authorized  to  carnal  minds,  but,  in 
the  view  of  those  who  know  better,  your  triumphant 
notes  and  taunts  are  as  foohsh  as  the  inferences  of  a 
maniac ;  they  sound  in  the  ears  of  such  lil^e  the  rav- 
ings of  one  void  of  spiritual  reason — hke  the  prelude 
in  time  of  an  actual  and  fearful  tragedy  in  eternity, 
when  the  despiser  on  earth  has  become  the  companion 
of  the  devil  and  his  angels  in  hell.  If,  then,  you  have 
any  desii'e  that  God  should  make  you  to  differ  from 
what  you  are  and  what  you  will  be,  unless  your 
nature  be  changed,  you  must  repent  of  that  wicked 
and  ungodly  stand  which  you  have  assumed,  in  deter- 
mining to  wait  until  you  are  sensibly  forced;  you 
must  be  brought  to  work,  and  yet  give  God  the  whole 


32  SOVEREIGN  AND  EFFECTUAL  GRACE. 

glory  of  your  working ;  you  must  take  up  your  posi- 
tion at  the  foot  of  Jesus'  cross,  looking  and  crying 
for  mercy.  It  is  only  they  who  are  brought  by  con- 
victing grace  to  this  humble  posture  and  act,  whom 
converting  grace  ever  makes  to  differ.  Unless  you  are 
led  thus  and  there  by  God,  you  will  never  become  a 
monument  of  His  distinguishing  and  sovereign  grace. 


SERMON  III. 


THE  LAMENTATION  OF  THE  LOST  OYER  THEIR  OWN 
NEGLECT. 


Jer,  vili.  20. 


"  The  harvest  is   past,  the  summer  is  ended,  and  tte  are  not 

SAVED." 

Scarcely  any  greater  calamity  could  befoll  a  people 
in  a  climate  such  as  this,  than  the  setting  in  of  winter, 
with  no  provision  in  our  barns.  Long  ere  the  recur- 
rence of  seed-time,  the  horrors  of  famine  and  starva- 
tion would  be  experienced,  and  the  land  would  become 
a  depopulated  waste.  Deep,  and  loud,  and  long,  and 
universal  would  be  the  cry  from  the  inhabitants.  On 
every  side  the  heart-rending  lamentation  would  be 
heard :  "  The  harvest  is  past,  the  summer  is  ended, 
and  we  are  not  saved."  If,  in  addition,  a  people  over 
whom  such  a  doom  impended  could  reproach  them- 
selves with  past  neglect,  with  what  bitterness  would 
it  envenom  their  despair !  As  they  looked  upon  the 
leafless  forest  and  shrubbery — or  the  unyielding  frozen 
grounrl,  or  the  mantle  of  sleet  and  snow  with  which 
the  face  of  the  earth  was  covered — as  they  heard  the 
howhng  and  pitiless  blast,  and  contrasted  all  this  with 
those  genial  seasons,  in  which  "  the  earth  put  forth  of 
herself;  first  the  blade,  then  the  ear,  after  that  the 
3 


34  THE  LAIVIENTATION  OF  THE  LOST 

full  corn  in  the  ear ;"  in  which  they  might  have  sown 
their  seed  and  gathered  in  the  increase  of  the  fiekls — 
how  w^ould  that  pleasure  or  idleness  appear,  on  ac- 
count of  which  they  had  foregone  the  opportunity  of 
providing  for  their  present  wants !  what  poignancy 
would  it  add  to  the  Avaihng :  "  The  harvest  is  past, 
the  summer  is  ended,  and  we  are  not  saved ! " 

Is  it  not,  then,  a  most  terrific  simile  which  the 
prophet  uses  in  onr  text,  to  depict  the  evil  with  which 
he  was  directed  to  threaten  his  rebellious  country- 
men ?     God  was  meditating  the  most  summary  judg- 
ments in  their  case,  on  account  of  their  incorrigible 
wickedness.     Ere,  however,  the  punishment  was  in- 
flicted, Jeremiah  w^as  commissioned  to  announce  the 
gathering  storm  of  divine  vengeance.     Most  faithfully 
did  the  prophet  strive  to  rouse  the  fears  of  his  fellow- 
subjects,  and  to  lead  them  to  that  repentance  which 
God  required  at  their  hands.     The  calamity  which 
threatened  his  native  land  was  not  second  in  his  esti- 
mation to  any  that  could  befall  it.    Even  the  devasta- 
tion of  famine  would  not  have  exceeded.     As  the 
prophet  perceives  in  vision  his  countrymen  led  cap- 
tive by  the  Chaldeans  to  their  distant  land — as  he 
foresees  them  sitting  doAvn  and  w^eeping  by  the  rivers 
of  Babylon,  he  warns  them,  that  the  grief  and  despair 
with  which  their  hearts  will  then  be  filled,  can  be 
likened  only  to  the  hopeless  wretchedness  of  a  people 
without  food,  and  who,  on  the  eve  of  a  winter,  against 
the  length  and  severity  of  which  they  were  unpro- 
vided, should  exclaim :    "  The  harvest  is  past,  the 
summer  is  ended,  and  we  are  not  saved."     Those 
opportunities  of  pardon,  those  ofiers  of  mercy  which 


OVER  THEIR  OWX  NEGLECT.  6o 

they  now  so  recklessly  neglected,  would  then  be  re- 
garded as  the  very  harvest  and  summer  of  their  lives ; 
and  utterly  disconsolate,  they  would  give  up  the  re- 
mainder of  then-  time  to  overwhelming  self-reproach. 

Beloved  brethren,  the  dealings  of  the  Lord  with 
that  generation  of  the  Jews  were  no  doubt  important ; 
but  they  would  never  have  been  recorded  on  the 
sacred  page,  unless  they  were  intended  as  a  lesson  for 
each  succeeding  age.  The  princij^le  which  they  in- 
volve is  of  universal  application.  Whatever  may  be 
the  nature  of  the  calamities  which  befall  us — if  they 
have  been  brought  upon  us  by  ourselves,  or  might 
have  been  avoided  by  timely  attention — their  endur- 
ance will  be  doubly  severe ;  and  ere  they  overtake  us, 
our  text  should  be  viewed  in  the  light  of  a  fearful  and 
momentous  warning.  There  is,  how^ever,  one  case 
with  which  Scripture  figures  specially  associate  the 
threatening  before  us.  We  refer  to  that  eventful 
epoch  in  every  man's  history,  when  his  probation  is 
closed — when  those  offers  of  mercy  through  the  blood 
of  Jesus  Christ  which  have  been  rejected  are  with- 
drawn, and  the  sinner  hears  the  Almighty  Judge  pro- 
nounce his  iiTeversible  doom — he  sees  the  door  of 
grace  closed — he  feels  not  only  the  anguish  of  despe- 
ration, but  of  remorse,  as  he  remembers  the  spiritual 
privileges  that  have  been  abused,  and  he  takes  up  the 
lamentation :  "  The  harvest  is  past,  the  summer  is  end- 
ed, and  I  am  not  saved."  Let  us,  then,  beloved  hearers, 
look  at  the  fearful  comparison  which  the  text  suggests, 
and  be  urged  by  it  to  secure  salvation  while  we  can. 

There  are  only  two  points  which  will  claim  our 
attention.     The  first  is,  that  the  present  life,  if  Scrip- 


36  THE  LAMENTATION  OF  THE  LOST 

turally  vietved,  must  he  regarded  as  ilie  set  harvest- 
time  of  souk.  Some,  perhaps,  may  be  disposed  to 
question  this,  and  to  ask,  If  there  be  not  a  peculiar 
fitness  in  the  end  of  the  world  being  considered  as  the 
spiritual  harvest  of  God  ?  In  proof  of  which  it  may 
be  urged,  that  the  followers  of  Christ  will  then  be 
separated  from  the  impenitent  and  unbeheving  and 
gathered  into  the  granary  of  heaven,  and  that,  more- 
over, the  matter  is  so  presented  by  our  Lord  in  the 
familiar  parable  of  the  tares  and  wheat.  There  we 
are  taught,  that  until  the  end  of  the  world,  saints  and 
sinners  will  live  promiscuously  together ;  but  that 
God  will  then  separate  between  the  two,  and  while 
He  takes  to  himself  the  first,  as  the  wheat  in  harvest 
time  is  set  apart  for  use.  He  will  cast  out  the  last,  as 
the  husbandman  throws  away  the  tares,  which  serve 
no  good  end,  and  which  have  injured  the  beauty  and 
productiveness  of  his  field.  The  force  of  this  is  freely 
admitted.  The  last  day  wiU  emphatically  prove  a 
harvest  in  the  spiritual  w^orld.  Still,  brethren,  there 
is  another  aspect  of  the  matter  in  which  the  present 
life  is  even  a  more  important  harvest  than  the  judg- 
ment. It  is  true,  that  the  consequences  of  the  judg- 
ment will  be  momentous — yet  that  whole  transaction, 
solemn  and  glorious  as  it  shaU  be,  will  only  be  the 
public  disclosure  and  ratification  of  what  has  already 
taken  place.  It  will  not  be  the  day  of  trial ;  it  wiU 
be  simply  sentence-day.  The  trial  wiU  have  occurred 
during  the  lives  of  those  then  gathered  round  the  bar 
of  God.  These  souls  will  have  been  fitted  for  heaven 
or  hell  during  their  sojourn  on  the  earth.  All,  who 
on  the  last  day  shall  be  publicly  acknowledged  by 


OVER  THEIR  OWN  NEGLECT.  37 

God  and  received  to  dwell  with  Him  forever,  must 
have  been,  w^iile  they  lived  on  earth,  secretly  owned 
as  His,  and  admitted  into  close  and  blessed  communion 
with  Himself.  Thus,  the  final  harvest  will  be  only 
the  sum  total  of  all  the  harvests,  which  have  been 
reaped  from  successive  generations  on  the  earth.  It 
was  in  accordance  with  this,  that  our  Saviour  impressed 
upon  His  disciples  the  great  fact,  that  the  present  life 
was  the  harvest  of  souls.  "  Say  not  ye,"  said  our 
Lord  by  the  well  of  Samaria  to  the  twelve,  when  they 
wondered  at  the  interest  which  He  had  displayed  in 
leading  the  woman,  who  had  just  left  them,  to  the 
saving  knowledge  of  the  truth,  "  that  there  are  yet 
four  months,  and  then  cometh  harvest."  At  the  time 
when  He  spake  these  words,  this  w^as  probably  true 
in  the  natural  world;  but  those  spiritual  fields,  in 
which  He  had  called  the  disci]3les  to  labor.  He  de- 
clares, w^ere  "already  white  to  the  harvest."  Our 
Saviour  thus  likened  the  souls,  who  were  perishing 
around,  to  grain  ready  for  the  sickle  in  the  field,  and 
yet,  from  lack  of  reapers,  suffered  to  decay.  By  this 
comparison.  He  justified  the  earnest  and  unremitting 
character  of  His  own  labors,  and  urged  them  to  imi- 
tate Hjs  example. 

Upon  another  occasion,  too,  our  Ptedeemer  regretted 
that  the  laborers  were  so  few,  while  the  harvest  was 
so  great,  and  directed  His  people  to  pray  "to  the 
Lord  of  the  harvest,  that  He  Avould  send  forth  labor- 
ers into  His  harvest."  It  is,  then,  a  Scriptural  illus- 
tration of  this  world,  when  it  is  represented  as  the 
harvest-field  of  souls.  But  it  will  be  further  seen, 
how  apt  and  forcible  this  illustration  is,  if  we  remind 


38  THE  LAMENTATION  OF  THE  LOST 

ourselves  of  two  important  truths.  The  first  is, 
There  is  no  period  of  the  present  life  in  which  the  salva- 
tion of  the  soul  cannot  he  secured. 

Youth  is  often  spoken  of  as  the  seed-time ;  and  hence 
it  is  but  natural  to  regard  old  age  as  the  period  of  reaping 
and  gathering.  This,  however,  refers  chiefly  to  temporal 
interests  and  prospects.  It  is  an  undoubted  truth, 
that  the  character  which  we  form  and  gain  in  our 
earlier  days,  abides  with  us,  for  the  most  part,  to  the 
close  of  life.  So  that  old  age  is  but  the  developed 
germ  of  youth.  There  is,  too,  a  momentary  sense  in 
which  it  is  true,  that  even  in  spiritual  and  eternal 
things,  the  period  of  youth,  so  generally  inisspent 
and  so  frequently  regarded  as  only  fit  for  indulgence 
and  pleasure,  is  yet  the  time  to  sow ;  and  that  as  a 
man  then  sows,  so  Avill  he  reap,  in  this  respect,  for 
the  remainder  of  his  fife,  and  throughout  his  endless 
being  in  the  world  to  come.  Beyond  the  period  of 
youth,  conversions  from  the  ways  of  sin  are  compara- 
tively rare ;  and  hence  the  importance  of  seeking  the 
Lord  early,  when  He  is  generally  found.  But  if  the 
miiddle-aged  and  the  old  are  seldom  brought  within 
the  fold  of  Christ,  it  is  because  sinful  habits  have 
gained  overpowering  dominion  in  the  soul,  or  because 
God  has  been  provoked,  on  account  of  their  joining 
themselves  to  their  idols,  to  let  them  alone.  It  is  not 
because  salvation  is  impossible  in  their  case.  For 
among  their  ranks  instances  of  conversion  do  occur ; 
and  such  are  not  excluded  from  the  offers  of  mercy  in 
God's  word.  So  long  as  we  are  continued  in  this 
world,  redeemed  by  the  blood  of  Christ,  there  is  no 
period  in  wdiich,  if  we  forsake  our  wicked  ways  and 


OVER  THEIR  OWN  NEGLECT,  39 

unrighteous  thoughts,  and  turn  unto  the  Lord,  lie 
will  not  have  mercy  upon  us.  From  early  infancy  to 
advanced  life,  there  is  no  instant  in  which  the  heart 
cannot  be  changed,  and  the  forgiveness  of  sins  ob- 
tained. The  gates  of  gospel  grace  stand  open  night 
and  day.  It  is  perpetually  in  this  life  the  harvest- 
time  of  souls.  In  a  most  important  aspect  of  the 
case,  no  time  for  preparation  is  required  to  secure  our 
peace  with  God.  There  is  thus  no  season  assigned  to 
sowing — no  time  needed  for  gTOwing  and  maturing. 
It  is  a  time  of  unceasing  harvest.  Every  hour  we 
reap,  or  refuse  to  put  in  the  sickle.  Upon  each  mo- 
ment, salvation  or  perdition  is  suspended.  There  is 
no  instant  of  our  lives  in  which  we  do  not  accept  or 
reject  the  offers  of  God's  grace.  With  what  interest 
and  value,  therefore,  does  this  scriptiu'al  view  of  the 
case  invest  the  whole  progress  of  our  pilgrimage 
through  this  world !  At  every  step,  the  invitation  is 
addressed  to  us  by  Jesus  :  "  Come  unto  Me."  There 
is  no  period  in  which  the  declaration  does  not  sound 
in  our  ears  :  "  Behold,  now  is  the  accepted  time ;  and 
behold,  now  is  the  day  of  salvation."  Surely,  when 
we  thus  remember  that  God's  full  and  everlasting 
favor  may  be  gained  at  any  moment — that  we  may, 
every  day  and  hour,  be  fitted  by  His  grace  to  be 
gathered  with  His  sheaves  in  the  last  day,  it  shows 
an  aptness,  it  gives  a  force  to  that  scriptiTral  illustra- 
tion by  which  this  life  is  represented  as  the  harvest- 
time  of  souls. 

But  this  wiU  also  appear,  if  we  consider  that 
there  is  not  a  single  instant  of  our  lives  in  tchich 
the    means    of  grace    may   not  produce   their   saving 


40  THE  LAMENTATION  OF  THE  LOST 

effect.  Oh !  what  a  mistaken  view  of  the  Gospel  is 
that  which  assigns,  under  the  use  of  the  means  of 
grace,  some  definite  or  indefinite  length  of  time,  as 
necessary  to  produce  a  saving  change  in  our  hearts. 
Does  not  even  nature  itself  teach  us,  that  there  must 
be  some  line  which  separates  the  children  of  the  king- 
dom from  the  children  of  the  wicked  one  ?  some  line 
on  our  birth-side,  of  which  we  are  exposed  to  the 
wrath  of  God,  but  on  the  gracious  side  of  which  we 
are  accepted  and  safe?  The  change,  therefore,  by 
which  we  are  translated  out  of  Satan's  darkness  into 
the  kingdom  of  God's  dear  Son,  is  always  and  neces- 
sarily an  instantaneous  one.  God's  ways  of  dealing 
with  the  souls  that  He  is  leadmg  to  Himself,  may  in- 
deed be  diverse.  Some  He  may  and  does  sensibly 
and  almost  visibly  change  from  open  rebels  into  peni- 
tent, believing,  and  obedient  children.  These  may  be 
able,  wih  a  good  degree  of  certainty,  to  name  the  tkne 
and  place  in  which  they  first  became  partakers  of 
God's  grace.  Others,  agam,  may  be  allowed  to  resist 
for  a  time  the  draAvings  of  God's  Spirit ;  they  may  be 
gradually  and  insensibly  brought  to  the  saving  know- 
ledge of  Christ.  They  may  not  only  be  unable  to 
point  out  the  period  of  their  conversion,  but  be  in 
doubt  whether  as  yet  their  sins  are  forgiven.  But  in 
these  and  all  other  cases,  it  was  true,  whether  the 
subjects  of  the  change  be  themselves  aware  of  it  or 
not,  that  there  was  a  precise  time  in  which  they  were 
admitted  into  the  family  of  God,  and  became  parties 
to  His  everlastmg  covenant  of  grace. 

This  view  of  conversion,  moreover,  corresponds  with 
those  numerous  instances  of  this  spiritual  change  which 


OVER  THEIR  OWN  NEGLECT.  41 

are  described  in  Holy  Writ.  The  immediate  disciples  of 
cm*  Lord,  at  the  mere  bidding  of  our  Saviour,  left  all 
straightway,  and  followed  Him.  The  three  thousand, 
at  the  first  Christian  Pentecost,  were  convicted,  con- 
verted, and  baptized  on  the  same  day.  The  Philippian 
jailer  was  instructed  in  the  word  of  the  Lord,  beheved 
it,  and  made  a  profession  of  his  faith,  all  on  the  same 
night.  The  Ethiopian  treasurer  was  a  subject  of  the 
same  blessed  change  in  as  short  a  period  of  time. 
And  any  other  view  of  this  matter  results  from  spi- 
ritual ignorance  and  pride.  It  springs  from  our  not 
understanding  tlie  natm'e  of  the  operations  of  God's 
Spirit  in  any  case  of  the  new  birth,  and  from  not 
being  convinced  that  by  His  sovereign  and  mighty 
power.  He  is  able  to  transform  us  from  our  natural 
characters  into  His  own  holy  image ;  it  is  caused  by 
our  proud  desire  to  aid  God  m  this  work,  and  to  pre- 
pare oui'selves  for  the  reception  of  His  grace.  An 
humble  and  scriptural  view  of  this  subject,  however, 
wiU  teach  us  to  regard  the  work  of  God's  Spirit  Hke 
the  blowing  of  the  wdnd,  the  sound  of  which  we  hear, 
but  we  cannot  teU  whence  it  cometh,  nor  whither  it 
goeth.  When  born  of  the  Spirit,  we  are  the  subjects 
of  His  single  and  unmixed  operation  of  an  instanta- 
neous change.  In  the  use  of  whatever  means  of  gTace 
the  change  occm-s,  it  transpires  in  a  moment  of  time. 
If  in  prayer,  the  heart  is  brought  to  act  with  faith  on 
Christ,  and  to  go  out  in  love  to  God  :  if  it  be  in  hear- 
ing the  preached,  or  reading  the  written  word,  we  are 
led  to  accept  some  invitation,  or  to  believe  some  decla- 
ration, which  at  once  unites  us  to  Christ,  and  insures 
our  acceptance  with  God  :  if  it  be  under  some  Provi- 


42  THE  LAMENTATION  OF  THE  LOST 

dential  affliction  or  deliverance,  the  soul  is  made  im- 
mediately to  exercise  a  saving  trust  in  the  mercy  of 
its  God  in  Christ.  Thus  the  means  of  grace,  when- 
ever they  are  endued  with  power  by  God's  Spirit,  are 
competent,  at  any  moment,  to  effect  conversion  in  the 
heart,  and  to  confer  salvation  upon  the  soul.  When- 
ever they  are  thus  used,  they  are  the  putting  in  of  the 
sickle  into  the  ripe  grain.  In  the  connection  now 
before  us,  they  must  not  be  regarded  as  the  sowing 
and  dressing  of  the  field,  waiting  a  necessary  and 
appointed  time  for  the  bearing  of  fruit.  It  is  always 
harvest-time.  In  the  use  of  all  God's  ordinances,  the 
sickle  is  employed.  By  them,  souls  are  reaped  and 
gathered  into  God's  barn  on  earth,  awaiting  the  set 
time  for  their  removal  to  the  granary  in  heaven ;  or 
the  stalk  proves  too  thick  and  stubborn — it  yields  not 
to  the  scythe,  and  remains  exposed  to  sudden  destruc- 
tion or  gradual  decay. 

With  what  importance,  brethren,  does  this  Scrip- 
tural view  of  our  condition  invest  each  and  every  one 
of  the  appointed  means  of  grace — every  proclamation 
of  the  Gospel — every  occasion  on  which  the  word  of 
Christ  is  preached  or  heard.  Truly,  the  present  life 
is  an  unceasing  and  invaluable  harvest — the  harvest 
of  perishing  and  immortal  souls  ! 

But  this  leads  us  briefly  to  consider  our  second  and 
last  point ;  wdiich  is  this  :  If  zve  neglect  to  reap  in  this 
harvest,  tvith  tvhat  despair  and  remorse  shall  tve  he  filled 
ivhen  it  is  for  ever  past !  Into  what  a  state  of  hopeless 
wretchedness  shall  we  sink,  when  we  are  placed  in  such 
a  condition  as  this ;  if  Ave  shall  ever  become  deeply 
and  thoroughly  conscious  that  no  offer  of  mercy  shall 


OVER  THEIR  OWN  NEGLECT.  43 

ever  again  reach  us — that  there  is  for  us  no  hope  of 
pardon,  "but  a  certain  fearful  looking  for  of  judgment 
and  fiery  indignation"  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord, 
and  from  the  glory  of  his  power  ?  The  mere  dreaming 
of  such  a  calamity,  the  imagining  in  sleep,  that  we 
found  ourselves,  upon  the  last  day,  on  the  left  hand 
of  Christ,  has  caused  many  a  one  to  awake  in  terror, 
which  it  has  proved  for  a  length  of  time  impossible  to 
shake  off.  But  who  can  picture  the  actual  reality  ? 
the  emotions  which  will  possess  the  lost  soul,  amid 
the  terrific  glories  of  the  judgment  day !  when  those 
fears,  with  which  it  had  sometimes  looked  forward  to 
that  eventful  day,  but  which  it  had  shaken  off  under 
the  delusive  hope  of  being  prepared  in  time,  are,  to 
its  overwhelming  disappointment  and  woe,  realized ! 
what  feelings  vv'ill  the  unrelenting  features  of  the 
Judge,  the  stern  countenance  of  an  incarnate  God, 
excite,  when  He  bids  the  soul,  "  Depart,  ye  cursed, 
into  everlasting  fire,  prepared  for  the  devil  and  his 
angels !"  Who,  under  such  a  doom,  will  be  able  to 
contemplate  what  he  has  lost — what  he  has  incurred  ! 
from  whom  he  is  for  ever  separated — with  whom  he 
is  for  ever  to  dwell !  In  what  a  frenzy  of  excitement 
and  desperation,  as  Jesus  and  His  redeemed  enter 
into  their  rest,  and  shut  to  the  door;  will  he  rise  from 
without  and  knock,  saying, "  Lord,  Lord,  open  unto  us !" 
And  when  Jesus  from  within  shall  say :  "  Verily,  I 
say  unto  you  I  know  you  not" — when  He  sendeth 
His  angels,  and  they  gather  this  lost  one,  with  all  that 
are  without,  to  cast  them  into  that  lake  of  fire  which 
is  the  second  death — when  the  soul  finds  its  bed  in 
hell,  and  feels  the  gnawings  of  that  worm  which  dieth 


44 


THE  LAMENTATION  OF  THE  LOST 


not,  Oh !  tell  me,  will  there  not  be,  in  this  casting  of 
the  sonl  and  body  into  hell,  a  deeper  perdition  than 
any  which  can  be  experienced  on  earth  ?  Will  there 
not  be,  in  this  second  death,  a  bitterness  Avhich  the 
prospect  or  endurance  of  the  first  death,  in  its  worst 
possible  shape,  could  never  excite  ?  AVill  not  the  de- 
spair which  fills  the  soul  w^hose  spiritual  harvest  is 
past,  be  incomparably  more  terrific  and  intolerable 
than  the  lack  of  any  and  all  of  the  necessaries  of  this 
life  could  inspire  ?  Can  any  temporal  sufferer  fathom 
the  depths  of  that  anguish  with  which  the  lost  soul 
in  hell  shall  take  up  the  lamentation,  "  The  harvest  is 
past ;  the  summer  is  ended,  and  I  am  not  saved  ?" 

But  not  only  will  despair  be  felt,  under  the  convic- 
tion that  no  future  harvest  will  occur,  but  the  remem- 
hrance  of  that  harvest  and  summer  tvhich  ivere  spent  in 
sin  or  spiritual  sloth,  ivill  harrozv  the  soul  with  self- 
reproach.  The  fact,  that  its  whole  fife  on  earth  had 
been  one  perpetual  harvest — that  neither  time  nor 
labor,  except  to  overcome  its  own  unwillingness,  had 
been  required  to  make  its  peace  with  God ;  that  the 
assurance  was  given,  that  on  God's  part,  all  things 
were  ready ;  that  the  invitation  had  been  extended  by 
Jesus,  and  never  withdrawn,  to  "  Come"  unto  him ; 
that  at  every  step,  nothing  but  unwillingness  to  accept, 
nothing  but  aversion  to  the  Saviour  and  his  salvation 
hindered — this  will  make  the  soul  regard  its  doom  as 
spiritual  suicide — cause  it  to  look  upon  itself  as  its 
own  worst  enemy,  and  incite  it  to  prey  upon  itself! 
How  will  every  neglected  and  misimproved  moment 
of  its  sojourn  here,  in  which  pardon  and  salvation 
might  have  been  secured,  and  its  eternal  ruin  have  been 


iQ^xv  ^y^,  ^    wv/v^ii   uvyvwivvi, 


OVER  THEIR  OWN  NEGLECT.  45 

escaped,  appear  to  have  been  fraught  with  everlasting 
interests,  and  be  laid  to  its  own  account,  as  an  infinite 
debt,  and  exacted  at  its  insolvent  hands  ! 

But  God's  mercy,  too,  it  will  be  remembered,  vouch- 
safed moments  of  special  favor-times,  in  which  the  means 
of  grace  were  brought  immediately  to  bear,  and  the  offer 
of  salvation  directly  made.  In  what  light  will  the  lost 
soul  then  view  these  auspicious,  but  still  misimproved 
hours  ?  How  will  you,  fellow-sinner,  look  back  upon 
such  a  season  as  the  present,  when  you  were  fore- 
warned of  all  that  you  will  then  be  suffering?  How, 
upon  every  occasion  on  Avhich  you  have  sat  under  the 
droppings  of  the  sanctuary,  and  been  brought  by  all 
the  mercies  of  God  in  Christ,  to  make  your  calling 
and  election  sure — (how,  upon  such  a  series  of  ser- 
vices as  those  in  which  you  have  lately  had  the  oppor- 
tunity of  joining  ?) — Oh  !  if  from  these  means  of  grace 
you  absented  yourself  for  some  vain  worldly  reason 
or  excuse;  or  if,  although  present,  the  instructions, 
the  reproofs,  the  entreaties  of  Christ's  ambassadors, 
neither  touched  nor  won  your  heart,  how  will  you  bear 
the  remorse  with  which  you  will  visit  your  own  soul, 
after  you  have  cast  your  eye  back  on  these  propitious 
seasons  through  which  you  have  passed  ?  When,  too, 
you  remember  how  often  God  prospered  you  in  tem- 
poral things,  and  yet  these  tokens  of  His  goodness 
and  long-suffering  led  you  not  to  repentance,  but  you 
still  continued  in  hardness  and  impenitence  of  heart — 
when  you  remind  yourself  of  some  afflictive  Providen- 
tial stroke,  which  you  should  have  regarded  as  coming 
from  a  kind  chastising  Father's  hand,  and  gladly  sub- 
mitting yourself,  should  have  allowed  it  to  wean  your 


40  THE  LAMENTATION  OF  THE  LOST 

affections  from  the  world,  and  fix  tliem  on  the  tilings 
above,  but  under  which  you  hardened  your  neck  and 
went  on  frowardly  in  your  ways — when  these  come 
up  before  the  mind,  where  will  be  your  fortitude  to 
bear  the  fury  of  God,  and  to  drink  the  vials  of  His 
wrath  ?  With  what  an  unfathomable  depth  of  anguish 
and  remorse  will  you  take  up  the  unavailing  and  cease- 
less lamentation :  "  The  harvest  is  past,  the  summer 
is  ended,  and  I  am  not  saved !" 

Oh !  then,  fellow-sinner,  now,  in  the  harvest  of 
God's  mercy,  secure  his  blessing,  lest  he  set  for  you 
another  harvest,  and  force  you  to  reap  and  gather  in 
his  curse.  Seek  the  Lord  Avhile  he  may  be  found — 
call  upon  liim  while  he  is  near :  lest  that  come  upon 
you  which  is  written,  and  the  Lord  fulfil  his  word  by 
saying  to  your  soul,  "  Because  I  have  called  and  you 
refused ;  I  have  stretched  out  my  hand  and  you  would 
not  regard  j  therefore  also  I  will  laugh  at  your  cala- 
mity, and  mock  when  your  fear  cometh !"  Before,  then, 
the  Saviour  be  converted  into  the  inflexible  and  inex- 
orable judge,  hear  His  kind  and  winning  call.  He 
cries  to  your  soul,  "  Come  unto  me ;"  he  encourages 
your  hesitating  steps  with  the  assurance,  "  Him  that 
cometh  unto  me,  I  will  in  no  wise  cast  out."  "  Come, 
for  all  things  are  now  ready."  Say  not,  "  Go  thy 
way  for  this  time ;  when  a  more  convenient  season 
cometh,  I  will  call  for  thee;  there  are  yet  four 
months,  and  then  cometh  harvest ;"  "  for  lift  up  your 
eyes,  and  behold  the  fields  are  already  white  unto  the 
harvest"  of  God's  everlasting  blessings.  "  Behold, 
now  is  the  accepted  time ;  behold,  now  is  the  day  of 
salvation !"    Oh !  that  the  children  of  this  world  were 


OVER  THEIR  OWN  NEGLECT.  47 

as  wise  in  spiritual  as  they  are  in  earthly  things ! 
When  was  it  that  any  were  forced  to  take  up  the 
lamentation  in  our  text,  because  they  refused  to  sow 
and  reap  the  grain  of  that  bread  which  perisheth ; 
but  how  many  will  wail,  because  they  have  neglected 
the  harvest  and  sunnner  of  their  souls !  Oh !  that 
you  could  be  as  wise  in  this  thing  as  even  the  sense- 
less birds  of  the  air ;  that  you  would  suffer  the  ex- 
postulation of  the  prophet  in  our  chapter  to  persuade 
you  to  follow  their  example  !  For  he  saith  :  '•  Yea, 
the  stork  in  the  heaven  knoweth  her  appointed  times ; 
and  the  turtle  and  the  crane  and  the  swalloAV  observe 
the  time  of  their  coming ;  but  my  people  know  not 
the  judgment  of  the  Lord." 


SERMON  lY. 


THE  HID   TEEASURE. 


Matt,  xiii,  44. 

"  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  unto  treasure  hid  in  a  field  ; 
the  which,  when  a  man  hath  found,  he  hideth,  and  for  joy 

thereof  GOETH  and  SELLETH  ALL  THAT  HE  HATH,  AND  BUYETH 
THAT  FIELD." 

That  gracious  system  of  means,  which  the  King  of 
heaven  has  devised  and  estabhshed  upon  the  earth  to 
reconcile  human  rebels  unto  himself,  is  divinely 
adapted  to  its  every  circumstance  and  purpose. 
Hence,  when  it  is  viewed  from  different  positions,  and 
is  seen  to  be  accomplishing  various  ends,  it  always 
presents  itself  in  a  new  light.  This  abundantly  ap- 
pears from  those  seven  very  diversified  parables  w^hich 
our  chapter  contains;  yet  they  form  only  a  single 
cluster  from  that  rich  vine  wdiich  runs  through  the  first 
three  Gospels.  In  external  appearance,  these  grapes 
of  Canaan  may  be  nearly  the  same,  yet  to  the  taste 
their  flavors  will  be  very  unlike. 

As  there  is  an  almost  infinite  variety  in  the  situa- 
tions and  characters  and  attainments  of  God's  crea- 
tures, so  the  spiritual  instrumentahty  which  their 
Maker  and  Saviour  brings  to  bear  upon  them  is 
equally  diversified ;  and  in  those  fife-like  pictures  of 
4 


50  THE  HID  TREASURE. 

it  which  Jesus  draws,  will  be  found  a  corresponding 
difference.  The  truthfulness  of  these  observations 
will  be  amply  proved  by  a  comparison  of  our  text 
with  the  succeeding  parable.  No  formal  attempt, 
however,  will  now  be  made  to  institute  such  a  com- 
parison. Our  j^resent  purpose  will  be  answered  by 
the  simple  remark,  that  the  two  parables  are  intended 
to  illustrate  the  effect  which  the  Gospel  produces  upon 
two  characters,  whose  religious  convictions  were  more 
or  less  deep. 

That  which  now  claims  our  attention,  shows,  as  we 
apprehend,  the  aspect  in  which  the  salvation  that  is 
by  the  Gospel  presents  itself  to  the  more  advanced 
inquirer.  It  describes  the  way  in  which  this  all-im- 
portant subject  affects  one  Avhose  mind  is  absorbed 
mth  it ;  who  is  deeply  persuaded,  that  there  is  nothing 
in  heaven  or  earth  to  be  compared  with  a  well-founded 
hope  in  Christ ;  and  who  is  consequently  prepared  for 
any  sacrifice  or  eff'ort  w^hich  may  be  required  to  attain 
it.  Our  Lord  spake  this  and  the  two  succeeding 
parables  to  His  discijiles  in  private.  They  were  de- 
signed to  prepare  them  for  their  subsequent  office  in 
the  church,  as  preachers  and  rulers.  Now,  among 
their  future  hearers,  there  would  frequently  be  some 
who  had  attained,  or  who  fancied  that  they  had  ar- 
rived at,  such  a  degree  of  concern  about  the  things 
which  made  for  their  peace  as  has  been  described. 
Anxiety  upon  the  subject  would  be  awakened  in  the 
breasts  of  many  by  the  earnest  preaching  which  they 
would  hear.  Again,  there  would  be  the  \dctims  of 
earthly  disappointment  and  bereavement,  and  in  whom, 
consequently,  desires  would  spring  up  for  that  treasure 


THE  HID  TREASURE.  51 

which  the  world  can  neither  give  nor  take  away. 
Others,  too,  would  learn  their  guilt,  under  the  teaching 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  be  ready  to  purchase  deliver- 
ance from  the  oppressive  burden  at  any  price.  Now, 
the  hope  which  the  Gospel  held  out  to  such,  and  the 
unceasing  and  earnest  efforts  which  it  would  induce 
them  to  put  forth,  in  order  to  lay  hold  upon  it,  the 
Saviour  likened  to  "  treasure  hid  in  a  field ;  the  which, 
when  a  man  hath  found,  he  hideth,  and  for  joy  thereof 
goeth  and  selleth  all  that  he  hath,  and  buyeth  that 
field." 

Now,  the  question,  which  we  propose  to  answer, 
is  this :  What  insight  does  this  passage  afford  into  the 
state  and  ohligations  of  a  soul,  that  is  truly  secldng 
an  interest  in  Christ  ?  This  parable  illustrates,  then, 
in  the  first  place,  that  despondency  with  which  in- 
quirers for  Christ  are  often  overtaken. 

Could  anything  be  more  disheartening  to  one,  who 
was  searching  for  a  hidden  treasure,  than  to  be  taken 
to  a  field,  and  as  his  guide  covered  its  unbroken  and 
extensive  surface  with  the  horizontal  sweep  of  his 
arm,  to  be  told  that  it  lay  buried  there  ?  At  what 
spot  his  laborious  effort  should  commence,  such  a  one 
could  not  divine.  Neither  would  he  know  how  deep 
he  would  have  to  dig.  Through  how  many  years  of 
toil  he  would  be  required  to  pass,  remains  to  be 
proved.  Perhaps  even  his  life  might  be  spent  in  a 
wearisome  and  fruitless  search.  Now,  both  experi- 
ence and  the  Scriptures  show,  that  this  does  not  too 
strongly  represent  what  the  inquiring  sinner  often 
feels.  When  the  unfailing  fiiith  of  the  captain  of  our 
salvation  was  tested  by  desertion,  as  he  hung  sus- 


•^V-. 


52  THE  HID  TREASURE. 

pended  on  the  cross,  even  lie  cried  out :  "  My  God, 
my  God,  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me  ?  why  art  thou 
so  far  from  helping  me,  and  from  the  words  of  my 
roaring  ?"  Those,  too,  of  his  imperfect  followers,  who 
have  trodden  most  closely  in  his  footsteps,  have  had 
their  trust  tried  in  the  same  way.  In  a  season  of 
spiritual  darkness.  Job  exclaims  :  "  Oh  !  that  I  knew 
where  I  might  find  him."  Isaiah,  too,  thus  addresses 
the  Most  High,  "  Verily,  thou  art  a  God  that  hidest 
thyself,  0  God  of  Israel,  the  Saviour."  Moreover,  as 
a  characteristic  complaint  of  the  Christian,  when  de- 
nied a  comforting  view  of  his  Redeemer,  St.  Paul  puts 
these  words  in  his  mouth :  "  0  wretched  man  that  I 
am !  who  shall  deliver  me  ?" 

But  if  such  suffering  were  endured  by  the  Saviour 
and  his  saints,  is  it  wonderful  that  they  who  have 
not  as  yet  entered  into  covenant  with  God — who  feel 
sin  through  the  law  working  death  within,  and  who 
have  no  hope  of  pardon  and  acceptance  through 
Christ,  should  have  their  hearts  wrung  with  unmixed 
anguish,  as  they  ask  for  the  first  time,  "  What  must 
we  do  to  be  saved  ?"  They  may  be  faithfuUy  and 
scripturally  directed  to  "beheve  in  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ."  But  that  cold,  untrusting  view  of  their  great 
sin-bearer,  which  their  understandings  are  able  to 
take,  afi'ords  them  not  the  relief  for  which  they  seek. 
They  cannot,  of  themselves,  lay  hold  upon  Christ, 
and  cause  him,  as  a  living  tenant,  to  take  up  his 
dwelling  in  then'  hearts  by  faith,  and  to  become  in 
them  a  vital  hope  of  glory.  They  are  tempted  to  turn 
away  from  that  scene  upon  Calvary,  so  comfortless  to 
unconverted   fallen  nature,  and   to  begin  to  search 


THE  HID  TREASURE.  53 

again  through  the  whole  field  of  Scriptures  for  that 
eternal  life  which  is  in  Christ. 

The  sinner  may  even  enter  the  visible  church,  and 
be  a  faithful  observer  of  every  outward  service ;  yet  he 
cannot  find  there  that  "  wicket-gate,"  Avhich  will  admit 
him  to  a  close  and  saving  walk  with  God.  Though 
others  may  plainly  perceive  and  point  it  out,  yet  he 
cannot  see;  and,  while  they  are  rejoicing,  he  sinks 
into  "the  slough  of  despond."  He  may  resolve  to 
give  over  further  effort;  and  he  might  be  glad  to  shake 
off  every  conviction  of  his  spiritual  wants.  However 
absurd  such  a  direction  might  be,  he  would  consider 
it  more  rational  and  hopeful,  if  told  to  perform  a  pil- 
grimage to  Jerusalem,  and  literally  to  excavate  the 
suburbs  of  the  city,  until  he  found  the  identical  spot 
where  Jesus  lay,  than  to  go  to  Christ  whom  he  cannot 
see.  For,  as  he  hears,  that  the  incarnate  Son  of  God 
rose  from  the  grave,  he  knows  not  to  what  part  of 
his  boundless  creation  he  has  taken  himself;  and 
the  search  for  him  appears  as  desperate,  as  if  a  blind 
man  should  attempt  to  find  one  who  eluded  him,  by 
grasping  at  every  object  which  came  within  his  reach. 
The  only  eyes  which  he  possesses  are  those  of  his 
body,  or,  at  best,  those  of  the  understanding  or  imagi- 
nation. He  has  no  spiritual  organ  by  which  he  can 
perceive  and  apprehend  Christ ;  and,  therefore,  it  is 
no  help  for  him  to  be  assured,  that  it  is  only  the  mis- 
conception of  the  natural  heart  which  leads  him  to 
hope  for  any  discovery  of  the  body  of  his  Lord. 

It  is  no  rehef  for  him  to  be  told,  that  "the  righteous- 
ness which  is  of  faith  speaketh  on  this  wise,  Say  not 
in  thine  heart,  who  shall  ascend  into  heaven  ?  (that  is, 


54  THE  HID  TREASURE. 

to  bring  Christ  down  from  above ;)  or  who  shall  de- 
scend into  the  deep  ?  (that  is,  to  bring  up  Christ  from 
the  dead.)  But  what  saith  it  ?  The  w^ord  is  nigh  thee, 
even  in  thy  mouth,  and  in  thy  heart :  that  is,  the  w^ord 
of  faith  which  w^e  preach ;  that  if  thou  shalt  confess 
with  thy  mouth  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  shalt  beUeve  in 
thine  heart  that  God  hath  raised  him  from  the  dead, 
thou  shalt  be  saved."  By  such  an  explanation,  the 
unbelieving  sinner  seems  only  to  have  his  difficulties 
increased.  For  now  he  understands  that  the  bhnd 
are  commanded  to  see,  and  that  w^ork  is  expected 
from  a  man  without  hands.  The  case  seems  to  him 
more  hopeless  than  at  first.  He  is  ready  to  sit  down 
with  folded  arms,  at  the  very  outskirts  of  the  field  in 
which  he  is  told  that  the  Gospel  treasure  is  hid.  For 
now  he  know^s,  that  by  no  unaided  exertions  of  his 
own  can  it  be  found. 

But  our  parable  teaches,  in  the  second  place,  ivhat 
strenuous  and  untiring  efforts  are  sometimes  requjired 
of  the  needy  sinner,  before  he  finds  that  treasure  ivhich 
is  hid  in  Christ.  Although  nothing  can  be  more 
presumptuous,  and  nothing  wdll  prove  more  unavail- 
ing, than  an  attempt  to  come  to  Christ,  without 
the  recognition  of  the  necessity  of  being  drawn 
to  him  by  the  Father,  yet  the  injunction  is  ex- 
press and  urgent,  that  we  should  "  strive  to  enter 
in  at  the  strait  gate."  Although,  too,  it  is  "  not  by 
works  of  righteousness  which  w^e  have  done,  but  of 
his  owm  mercy  he  saveth  us,"  and  the  result  of  all 
our  struggles  is,  that  we  are  brought  to  give  up  de- 
pendence on  our  own  arm  in  every  sense,  and  to  cast 
ourselves  entirely  upon  the  mercy  and  help  of  God  j 


THE  HID  TREASURE.  55 

yet,  on  this  very  account,  are  we  directed  to  "  work 
out  our  own  salvation  with  fear  and  trembhng." 
While,  in  his  sovereignty,  God  sometimes  confers  sal- 
vation, to  all  appearance  almost  unsought,  upon  a  few ; 
yet,  in  other  cases,  He  chooses  to  exact  a  patient, 
self-denying,  and  earnest  use  of  all  the  means  of 
gi'ace.  Thus,  it  is  not  at  the  first  report  that  many 
sinners  exercise  faith  in  the  glad  tidings  of  salvation 
Avhich  they  hear.  Like  the  Bereans,  they  feel  an  im- 
pulse to  resort  to  the  Scriptures,  and  ascertain  for 
themselves  whether  these  things  are  so.  Or  the  min- 
isters of  Christ,  as  they  see,  with  their  Master,  what 
little  effect  they  produce  by  word  of  mouth,  urge  their 
flock  to  "  Search  the  Scriptures"  and  believe  their 
testimony.  Upon  then*  dihgent  compliance  with  this 
direction,  too,  may  be  suspended  their  eternal  safety. 

Again,  it  is  not  a  single  proclamation  of  the  Gospel 
that  always  begins  and  ends  the  w^ork  of  grace  in  the 
heart ;  but  the  interest  which  one  sermon  excites  may 
be  subsequently  effaced  by  an  habitual  or  partial  ab- 
sence from  the  services  of  the  sanctuary,  or  it  may 
ripen  into  the  absolute  enjoyment  of  the  love  and 
favor  of  God,  by  a  constant  mingling  in  the  assem- 
blings and  worship  of  the  saints.  There  may  be  many 
a  man  who  never  would  have  been  "  blessed,"  if  he 
had  not  earnestly  and  perseveringly  heard  Christ, 
"  w^atching  daily  at  His  gates,  waiting  at  the  posts 
of  His  doors." 

Once  more,  although  the  Father  of  mercies  some- 
times sees  fit  to  call  the  grossest  reprobates  to  the 
immediate  knowledge  of  his  grace  in  Christ,  yet  it  is 
not  seldom  that  He  refuses  to  hold  any  communion 


56  THE  HID  TREASURE. 

with  an  inquirer,  unless  he  pursue  another  course ; 
unless  he  endeavor,  to  the  full  amount  of  the  ability 
which  God  giveth,  to  cease  from  evil,  and  to  learn  to 
do  well.  Jesus  imposes  it  upon  such  a  one  as  a  con- 
dition, first,  to  every  practicable  extent,  to  do  the 
divine  wdll  ere  he  will  allow  him  to  know  of  the  doc- 
trine whether  it  is  of  God,  or  whether  it  is  spoken, 
without  authority,  by  man.  Thus  he  is  allowed,  only 
by  his  faithfully  following  on,  to  know  the  Lord. 

But,  above  all,  how  many  a  distressed  inquirer  is 
urged  to  cry  out  vis.frayer  to  God,  if  perhaps  his  sin  may 
be  forgiven  him  !  Whatever  mercy  may  be  vouchsafed 
others,  who  have  hitherto  "  restrained  prayer  before 
God,"  yet  of  such  a  one  it  is  required,  that  he  must 
cry  after  knowledge,  and  lift  up  his  voice  for  under- 
standing ;  he  must  seek  her  as  silver,  and  search  for 
her  as  for  hid  treasures,  ere  he  understand  the  fear 
of  the  Lord,  and  find  the  knowledge  of  God.  Prayer 
is  emphatically  the  instrument  with  which  most  who 
are  brought  to  the  field  in  which  the  Gospel  treasure 
lies  hid,  are  expected  to  work.  They  must  be  so 
thoroughly  convinced  of  their  absolute  poverty  and 
wretchedness,  unless  they  are  endowed  wdth  the 
riches  of  Christ,  that  the  feelings  of  beggars  will  pos- 
sess them,  and  the  importunate  petitions  of  beggars 
be  offered  by  them.  They  must  assign  no  Hmit  to 
their  earnestness  and  perseverance.  As  miners,  in 
their  search  for  even  the  baser  metals,  penetrate  the 
earth  by  their  shafts  for  hundreds  of  feet,  so  those 
who  dig  for  that  which  is  "  better  than  gold,  yea  than 
much  fine  gold,"  must  determine,  if  needs  be,  to  break 
up  the  entire  surface  of  the  field,  and  to  explore  every 


THE  HID  TREASURE.  57 

attainable  depth,  until  they  find  that  which  their  sonl 
seeks.  Like  Jacob,  with  the  angel  of  the  covenant, 
they  must  give  the  Lord  no  rest  from  those  prayers 
in  wdiich  that  spiritual  strength  which  they  put  forth, 
can  be  illustrated  by  nothing  except  the  desperate 
energies  with  which  a  man  w^restles  to  maintain  his 
own  footing,  and  to  throw  his  adversary  down.  Curse 
and  perdition  are,  in  the  apprehensions  of  such  souls, 
the  only  alternation  of  blessing  and  salvation.  From 
them,  "  the  kingdom  of  heaven  suffereth  violence ;" 
and  they  are  "  the  violent  who  take  it  by  force." 

Yet  it  must  never  be  forgotten,  that  while  God  insists 
upon  many  a  convicted  sinner  thus  inquiring  of  Him  to 
deliver  his  wretched  soul,  yet  the  result  of  all  this  effort, 
if  it  eventuate  in  that  which  is  permanently  valuable 
or  truly  saving,  always  is  to  impress  him  with  the  un- 
shaken confidence,  that  not  unto  him,  not  unto  him, 
but  unto  God's  name,  be  the  glory  for  the  mercy  and 
the  truth  which  have  been  shown  him.  Nay,  they 
of  whom  such  a  laborious  experience  has  been  exacted, 
are  generally  more  deeply  imbued  with  the  lesson  of 
their  own  helplessness,  and  of  the  Almighty  sove- 
reignty of  God's  grace,  than  they  who  have  received 
mercy  as  an  almost  unasked-for  gift.  The  prominent 
effect  of  then-  severe  exercises  is  to  teach  them  theu* 
utter  uselessness  in  themselves.  Before  the  blessing 
is  attained,  the  hoUow  of  their  thigh,  like  Jacob's,  is 
by  a  simple  touch  of  God's  finger,  disjointed,  so  that 
they  cannot  even  stand  of  themselves.  So  far  as  all 
their  feeling  can  testify,  they  are  on  the  verge  of 
failure  and  despair.  Nay,  their  strength  is  spent; 
they,  in  the  simple  desire  to  break  their  fall,  throw 


58  THE  HID  TREASURE. 

themselves  upon  Him  from  whom  they  had  perhaps 
unconsciously  been  endeavoring  in  vain  to  wrest  the 
prize. 

Instead,  however,  of  rejection  and  ruin,  they  find, 
that  what  they  had  feared  as  damnation,  proves  at 
once  the  salvation  of  their  souls.  Instead  of  being 
thrown  to  the  ground,  and  being  left  there  in  despair, 
they  now  hear  the  voice  of  Him  who  readily  yields  to 
trust  what  could  not  have  been  wrung  from  Him  by 
strength.  The  Omnipotent  Saviour,  as  if  detained 
by  the  hands  of  the  lost  creature,  cries  out,  "  Let  me 
go."  Immediately  the  desponding  sinner's  weakness 
is  made  perfect  in  Christ's  strength.  He  is  encouraged 
to  cry  out :  "  I  will  not  let  Thee  go,  except  Thou  bless 
me;"  and  grace  makes  an  everlasting  covenant  of 
peace  with  him  to  whom  it  freely  gave  prevailing 
power.  The  treasure,  which  was  hid  in  the  field,  is 
found. 

But,  then,  it  generally  is  not  discovered  by  such 
a  one,  when  digging  in  a  new  spot.  It  is  aU  at  once 
seen  under  some  clod  which  had  been  previously 
turned  up.  That  hope  of  glory  which  springs  from 
Christ  within  us,  is  suddenly  and  unexpectedly 
awakened,  in  anwer  to  some  thrice-offered  prayer. 
That  faith,  which  is  accompanied  by  an  inward  wit- 
ness, is  excited  by  some  trite  truth  or  promise.  The 
dead  letter  of  the  Gospel  becomes  quickening,  and 
imparts  life.  This  worker-out  of  his  own  salvation  is 
thus  undoubtingly  convinced  that  it  was  God  who 
worked  in  him.  AU  merit  in  and  dependence  upon 
self,  are  for  ever  renounced ;  and  he  becomes  by  emi- 
nence, the  one   of  whom  it  was  predicted  that  he 


THE  HID  TREASURE.  B$ 

should  say :  "  In  the  Lord  have  I  righteousness  and 
strength." 

But  let  us  note,  in  the  last  place,  tvhat  effect  such 
success  has  upon  this  seeker  of  sjnritual  treasure.  In 
our  parable,  it  is  observed,  first,  that  he  "  hideth  it." 
Whatever  question  morahsts  might  here  raise,  as  to 
the  propriety  of  such  a  course  in  the  person  whose 
conduct  is  brought  forward  as  an  illustration,  all  will 
agree  that  it  is  but  natural.  Few  there  are,  who 
would  not  make  such  a  discovery  of  an  earthly  for- 
tune, accrue  exclusively  to  their  oAvn  profit.  But, 
without  attempting  to  justify  the  act,  it  certainly 
serves  to  illustrate  the  point  which  our  Lord  had  in 
hand ;  and  the  finder  of  spiritual  treasure  could  not 
be  blamed  for  following,  in  this  respect,  the  footsteps 
of  his  type.  For,  while  it  is  the  privilege  and  duty 
of  every  one  to  whom  Christ  manifests  himself,  like 
Andrew  and  Philip,  to  bring  others  to  their  Lord; 
yet  that  life  of  God,  to  which  we  are  introduced  at 
our  new  birth,  is  essentially  a  secret  thing — its  exist- 
ence and  actings  are  within  the  soul.  Communion 
with  God  is  emphatically  that  "joy  with  which  a 
stranger  intermeddle th  not."  It  may  inwardly  be 
carried  on  to  the  highest  degree,  when  the  lips  do  not 
move ;  and  when  even  the  lowest  whisper  of  his  own 
does  not  reach  the  outward  ear  of  the  favored  guest, 
in  the  spmtual  audience  chamber  of  the  King  of  kings. 

Its  most  precious  manifestations,  too,  of  its  vitality 
and  activity  within  the  inner  man,  are  in  that  closet, 
where  none  is  admitted  but  the  w^orshipper  and  his 
God.  That  treasure  which  the  man  toiled  so  long  in 
the  field  to  find,  he  now  carries  in  his  heart.     His  soul 


60  THE  HID  TREASURE. 

is  enriched ;  and  though  stripped  of  all  things  else  and 
immured  within  a  dungeon,  yet  he  possesses  that  with 
which  he  would  not  part  for  the  world  beside.  His 
"hfe  is  hid  with  Christ  in  God."  His  walk  upon  the 
earth  is  by  faith,  in  view  of  things  unseen.  His 
affections  are  set  upon  the  things  above,  where  Christ 
sitteth  at  the  right  hand  of  God.  Like  one  who  hideth 
a  discovered  treasure,  Christ  is  enjoyed  in  secret  by 
those  who  find  him. 

But  the  last  step  which  the  man  in  our  parable 
took,  was,  "/ic  sold  all  that  lie  had  and  hought  that 
field."  So  valuable,  indeed,  had  been  that  treasure  in 
his  eyes,  even  before  it  was  found,  that  the  bare  hope 
of  gaining  it  prevented  him  from  enjoying  what  he 
already  possessed.  He  left  all,  and  began  to  dig.  It 
was,  therefore,  but  a  matter  of  course  that  upon  its 
discovery  he  should  part  with  every  thing  in  order  to 
secure  it. 

But  here  the  question  arises,  in  what  way  can 
such  a  purchase  illustrate  the  bestowment  of  that 
"free-gift"  of  God,  which  is  always  "bought  without 
money  and  without  price?"  It  should  be  observed, 
then,  that  the  simple  finding  of  Christ,  in  the  sense  of 
the  parable,  is  the  actual  appropriating  him  to  our 
souls  by  faith,  so  that  our  interest  in  him  can  never 
be  lost.  It  is  the  entering  into  that  everlasting  cove- 
nant with  God,  by  which  our  sins  are  forgiven  and 
eternal  life  is  secured.  So  that  the  blessing  is  con- 
ferred, before  what  it  may  be  pretended  in  this  case 
was  the  price,  could  have  been  paid. 

When  Jesus  savingly  manifests  himself  to  a  soul, 
he   finds  it  in  a  depressed  condition,  unable  to  enjoy 


THE  HID  TREASURE.  61 

the  things  of  this  life.  But  this  sorrow  of  the  world, 
which  worketh  death,  his  gracious  Spirit  produced, 
that  as  a  relief  to  its  own  gloom,  it  might  be  willino- 
to  seek  that  salvation  to  which  it  is  naturally  averse. 
The  heart  is  still  bound  by  the  cords  of  affection  to 
earthly  objects,  but  it  is  rendered  incapable  of  deriving 
any  pleasure  from  them  by  that  deep  sense  of  its  own 
spiritual  necessity  and  wretchedness  which  has  been 
awakened  within.  If  these  convictions  could  only  be 
shaken  off  it  would  return  to  the  place  from  whence 
it  had  come  out.  It  is  only  when  that  feeling  of 
spiritual  want  by  w^hich  the  convicted  soul  is  dis- 
tressed discovers  a  divine  object  upon  which  it  can 
fasten,  that  then  a  new-found  joy  fiUs  the  soul  all 
creature  ties  are  loosened  and  every  idol  is  renounced. 
The  new  affection  takes  possession  of  the  heart  and 
expels  the  old.  The  distressed  worldling,  by  the  act 
of  faith,  enhsts  himself  as  a  soldier  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  Now,  as  one  that  warreth,  he  frees  himself 
from  all  "  entanglements  with  the  affairs  of  this  Hfe 
that  he  may  please  Ilim  who  hath  chosen  him  to  be  a 
soldier." 

So  far,  too,  indeed,  is  this  (subsequent)  sale  by 
the  heart  of  aU  that  it  has,  from  being  viewed  as  the 
purchase-money  for  eternal  life,  that  it  is  reoarded 
as  a  blessed  part  of  that  deliverance  from  this  present 
evil  world  with  which  Christ  makes  us  free;  and  the 
greater  the  extent  to  which  we  carry  it  the  hio-her 
the  degree  of  that  salvation  which  is  enjoyed.  Al- 
though, then,  the  most  earnest  and  untiring  toil  may 
be  exacted  of  us  before  the  hid  Gospel  treasure  be 
found  J    and  although   the  most   unreserved   earthly 


M 


THE  HID  TREASURE. 


sacrifices  be  subsequently  required  at  our  hands,  yet 
it  is  neither  by  creature  strength  nor  money,  that  the 
gift  of  God  is  purchased,  but  all  these  things  God 
worketh  in  us  by  his  grace,  to  his  own  praise  and 
our  salvation,  that  no  flesh  may  glory  in  his  presence. 
Nothing  which  we  do  or  suffer  can  answer  the  purpose 
of  merit  at  the  bar  of  God.  On  the  contrary,  the 
saving  discovery  of  Christ,  consists  in  finding  all  the 
righteousness  which  we  need,  in  Himself,  and  all  the 
strength  which  we  require  in  that  Spirit  whom  He 
gives.  Yet  to  those  who  see  only  with  carnal  eyes 
it  seems  as  though  the  believer  had  purchased  an 
inheritance  in  heaven  by  sacrificing  all  he  had  on 
earth;  as  though  "for  joy  of  that  treasure  which  he 
found,  he  had  gone  and  sold  all  that  he  had  and  bought 
that  field." 

And  now,  in  application  of  the  whole,  we  ask,  Are 
there  not  many  present  who  avow  that  they  have  the 
same  estimate  of  the  blessings  of  the  Gospel,  w^hich 
the  man  in  our  parable  had  formed  of  the  treasure  in 
the  field  ?  If  so,  what  opinion  must  be  entertained 
of  the  sincerity  of  this  profession,  unless  you  dili- 
gently ply  all  the  means  of  grace,  as  your  repre- 
sentative before  us  exerted  all  his  strength  and  skill, 
in  digging  up  the  ground  ?  Affect  not  to  regard  the 
cases  as  essentially  unlike.  Jesus  himself  has  drawn 
a  parallel  between  the  two.  Although  the  blessing 
will  ultimately  be  attained  in  such  a  manner  as  will 
show  that  it  was  discovered  to,  and  conferred  upon 
you,  in  a  sovereign  way,  by  God;  yet  he  chooses, 
and  may  insist,  even  to  the  alternative  of  your  eternal 
perdition,  that  you  should  seek  for  it  with  all  your 


THE  HID  TREASURE.  G3 

heart.  It  may  be  the  decree  in  your  case,  that  "  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,"  if  entered  at  all  by  yon,  shall, 
in  the  eyes  of  all  spectators,  assume  that  appearance 
in  which  it  is  presented  in  our  text.  It  must,  at  least, 
seem  to  suffer  violence  from  you,  and  to  be  taken  by 
force.  Like  Habakkuk,  you  may  have  to  complain : 
"  Oh !  Lord,  how  long  shall  I  cry,  and  thou  wilt  not 
hear !  Even  cry  unto  thee  of  violence,  and  thou  wilt 
not  save  !"  May  Ave  not,  then,  come  to  you  and  say : 
"  What  meanest  thou,  oh !  sleeper  ?  Arise,  and  call 
upon  thy  God,  if  so  be  that  God  will  think  upon  you, 
that  you  perish  not !"  Why  is  your  Bible  so  much 
neglected  ?  Why  are  you  present  but  half  the  time 
at  the  church  ?  Why  are  the  week-day  services  irreg- 
ularly attended  ?  Why  is  your  besetting  sin  allowed 
such  unresisted  sway  ?  Why  does  your  closet  witness 
such  inconstant  and  lukewarm  pressing  of  your  suit 
before  the  Throne  of  Grace?  Thus  shall  God,  the 
Saviour,  be  found  of  you,  when  you  seek  Him  with 
all  your  heart.  In  every  appointed  place  and  service, 
wait  upon  him;  and  "or  ever  you  are  aware,"  He 
will  say  unto  your  soul,  "  I  am  thy  salvation,"  and 
endue  you  with  the  riches  of  his  grace.  Then,  it  will 
be  your  exalted  privilege  to  show,  by  selling  all  you 
have — by  being  ready  to  part  with  any  object  which 
your  King  may  designate,  and  by  refusing  to  fix  your 
affections  on  aught  beside — that  you  hold  everything 
else  as  cheap.  When,  too,  the  last  predicted  shakmg 
of  all  things  shall  take  place,  and  every  creature  for- 
tune be  swept  away,  you  shall  have  a  "  treasure  in 
the  heavens  that  faileth  not — where  no  thief  approach- 
eth,  neither  moth  corrupteth." 


SEMON  Y. 


THE    PEARL. 


Matt.  siii.  45,  46. 

"  The  kingdom  of  ueaven  is  like  unto  a  merchantman,  seeking 
goodly  pearls  ;  who,  tthen  he  had  found  one  pearl  of  great 
price,  went  and  sold  all  that  he  had,  and  bought  it." 

It  Avas  intimated  in  our  last  discourse,  that  the 
parable  immediately  preceding  this,  illustrated  the 
effect  which  the  Gospel  had  upon  a  soul,  which,  in  its 
inquiries  after  pardon  and  salvation,  had  proceeded 
much  further  than  the  person  who  would  engage  our 
attention  now. 

In  the  first,  we  meet  Avith  one  already  deeply  con- 
vinced that  eternal  life  is  the  only  treasure  of  any  real 
worth.  We  behold  him  forsaking  every  earthly  plea- 
sure and  pursuit,  and  devoting  his  time  and  energies 
exclusively  to  a  laborious  search  for  the  things  which 
make  for  his  peace.  But,  in  the  parable  before  us,  we 
are  introduced  to  one  who  was  far  from  having  learnt 
this  preliminary  lesson — who  was  a  mere  seeker  after 
happiness,  and  determined  to  pursue  it  in  any  path 
which  might  hold  out  the  prospect  of  his  reaching  it, 
even  though  it  might  lead  him  far  from  heaven  and 
from  God. 

Instead,  then,  of  a  miner  digging  for  a  certain  spe- 
5 


66  THE  PEARL. 

cific  treasure,  the  discovery  and  possession  of  wMch 
can  alone  give  him  satisfaction,  and  tempt  him  to  rest? 
as  in  the  first  parable — there  is  now  brought  to  our 
notice,  an  indi\idual  engaged  in  traffic,  with  unsancti- 
fied  and  selfish,  although  with  what  the  world  would 
call  honest  ends.  We  are  thus  called  upon  to  contem- 
plate the  effect  which  the  means  devised  and  used 
by  the  grace  of  Grod  for  the  reconcihation  of  sinners 
unto  himself,  produce  upon  a  character  who  may  be 
likened  to  "  a  merchantman  seeking  goodly  pearls." 

We  have,  then,  here  one  who  is  not  troubled  with 
any  nice  points  of  casuistry,  as  to  what  is  right  or 
wrong — what  will  please  or  offend  God ;  his  simple 
object  is  to  enrich  or  bless  himself;  and  if  he  can  do 
this,  in  spite  of  the  Most  High,  his  conscience  will  not 
be  disturbed.  He  is  like  a  traveller  who  has  not  set 
out  for  any  particular  spot,  but  is  reckless  whither  he 
wends  his  way,  if  he  can  only  find  a  pleasant  and 
comfortable  lodging-place.  He  is  like  a  jeweller  who 
does  not  trade  in  a  particular  kind  of  precious  stones, 
but  will  barter  for  any  which  will  tend  most  to  his 
advantage.  Now,  that  such  characters  are  common, 
every  observer  of  human  nature  will  tell  you.  That 
they  are,  too,  dangerous  in  the  extreme,  it  will  require 
only  a  moment's  consideration  to  admit.  What  e"\dls 
may  not  some  momentary  impulse  prompt  them  to 
inflict  on  others !  Into  what  a  disastrous  shipwreck 
may  they  be  decoyed  by  some  false  light,  or  steered 
by  their  own  faUible  judgments ! 

If  it  were  not,  indeed,  for  the  checks  and  barriers 
which  the  society  of  fallen  men,  in  mere  self-defence, 
imposes  and  erects  for  the  restraint  of  its  natural  mem. 


THE  PEARL.  67 

bers,  who  are  all,  more  or  less,  under  tlie  influence  of 
this  principle,  what  frightful  scenes  would  be  generally 
witnessed !  It  may  be  true,  that  desire  for  happiness 
is  the  unconscious  mainspring  of  all  human  action — 
that  misery  is  shunned  as  well  by  the  spiritual  as  the 
sensual;  but  there  can  be  nothing  more  unsafe  or 
criminal  than  for  a  creature  to  set  before  himself — as 
the  object  to  secure  which  he  will  strain  every  nerve, 
and  make  all  other  things  subservient — the  attainment 
of  his  own  happiness. 

God  even  may,  and  does,  appeal  to  the  understand- 
ing of  such  selfish  characters,  and  thus  induce  them  to 
pursue  their  best  interests.  He  may  show  them  that 
happiness  is  to  be  obtained  only  in  one  way,  by  real 
obedience  to  His  commands.  "What,  too,  would  be 
the  effect  even  upon  the  best  saints,  as  men  are  con- 
stituted, if  their  highest  happiness  were  not  identified 
with  their  duty  and  allegiance  to  God,  it  would 
require  some  superhuman  mind  to  discover,  and  a 
divine  pen  to  depict.  Still,  the  glory  of  the  Most 
High,  in  whatsoever  we  do,  is  to  be  the  object  which 
the  faithful  and  enlightened  have  in  view.  Con- 
sciously to  make  our  own  happiness  the  paramount 
object  of  our  hearts,  is  to  dethrone  God,  and  to  place 
His  sceptre  in  the  hand  of  the  idol  self.  See  what 
calamity  such  a  proud  and  unsanctified  motive — more 
or  less  universally  operating  in  ungodly  hearts — in- 
flicts upon  a  fallen  world ;  and  that,  too,  notwithstand- 
ing the  hinderances  to  its  development,  which  are 
raised  by  divine  Providence  and  human  law  ! 

The  character,  then,  represented  by  the  merchant- 
man in  our  parable,  is  one  whose  impulses  and  reason- 


68  THE  PEARL. 

iugs  are  ungodly,  and  who  will  go  wherever  they 
dh-ect,  except  so  far  as  prudence,  after  consulting  cir- 
cumstances and  consequences,  may  forbid.  He  is 
only  so  far,  therefore,  confined  in  his  choice  of  the 
pearls  which  may  attract  his  eye,  and  awaken  the 
desire  to  secure  them  as  his  own.  But  within  these 
large  limits  he  seeks  with  utter  recklessness,  in  every 
direction,  for  goodly  pearls.  He  cares  not  where  the 
pearl  be  found,  whether  in  heaven  or  on  earth. 

But  the  question  here  arises.  How  could  our  Sa- 
viour represent  anythmg  earthly  by  what  is  considered 
precious  ?  Brethren,  he  means  not  to  intimate  that 
everything  under  heaven  will  not  in  the  end  prove 
unsatisfactory,  fleeting,  and  vile.  For  in  the  word  of 
God,  this  truth  is  taught  on  almost  every  page.  It  is 
not  intended,  then,  here,  by  the  use  of  the  word 
"  pearls,"  to  show  what  worldly  things  really  are,  but 
to  represent  them  in  the  hght  in  which  they  appear 
to  carnal  eyes,  and  as  they  even  prove,  perhaps,  for 
awhile,  to  the  experience  and  tastes  of  the  uncon- 
verted man.  And  that  they  do  yield  to  his  unsanc- 
tified  nature  all  the  satisfaction  and  delight  of  which 
it  is  capable,  is  what  may  and  must  be  admitted  to 
accord  with  truth.  In  his  sight,  the  things  of  this  life 
are  the  only  treasm-es  worth  possessing.  Such  plea- 
sant experience  of  them  in  the  past  as  he  has  enjoyed, 
and  such  attractive  qualities  as  his  ardent  imagina- 
'tion  endues  them  with,  urge  him  to  pursue  them  with 
all  the  avidity  which  characterizes  the  merchant,  when 
he  seeks  for  goodly  pearls. 

We  are  called  upon,  then,  first,  to  observe  the 
course  of  a  character  that  is  whoUy  under  the  influ- 


THE  PEARL.  69 

ence  of  the  natural  and  ungodly  impnlse  of  a  desire 
for  happiness.  As  such  a  one  looks  around  upon  this 
wide  and  diversified  world,  how  many  objects  present 
themselves  as  candidates  for  his  affections ! — how 
many  paths,  as  avenues  to  the  most  alluring  prospects, 
tempt  his  wayward  feet!  The  world  seems  strewed, 
before  his  inexperienced  eyes,  with  goodly  pearls  !  He 
takes  up  one  and  another,  and  cannot  be  convinced  of 
its  worthlessness  until  he  tests  it  in  the  crucible  of  his 
experience.  Possibly  the  same  individual  may  have 
neither  the  inclination  nor  the  power  to  try  consecu- 
tively each  of  the  ten  thousand  promising,  but  decep- 
tive ways  of  securing  happiness,  which  the  world 
offers.  Long  before  he  has  run  through  the  entire 
round,  he  may  reach  the  close  of  life ;  or  he  may  de- 
spair of  ever  reaching  that  which  he  first  aspired  after. 
Still,  it  is  a  notorious  fact,  that  the  disappointed  world- 
ling often  invents  some  new  method  of  retrie\dng  his 
blighted  hopes.  And  it  will  serve  our  purpose,  if  we 
consider  the  same  person  as  successively  endeavoring, 
in  various  modes,  to  discover  some  object  upon  which 
the  deep  longings  of  his  nature  can  fasten. 

It  matters  not  how  superficial  may  be  the  desire 
by  which  we  are  prompted ;  if  the  heart  be  brought 
under  its  power,  nothing  but  the  experienced  insuffi- 
ciency of  its  gratification  will  residt  in  its  renunciation. 

How  many  a  one,  then,  first  strives,  from  the  dicta- 
tion of  or  conformity  with  fashion,  to  derive  that 
which  will  please  and  satisfy  himself !  Whatever  may 
be  said,  too,  of  the  worthlessness  of  this  pearl,  yet  it 
would  be  sheer  io;norance  to  denv  that  it  has  at  least 
some  real  temporary  value.    That  law  which  all,  more 


70  THE  PEARL. 

or  less,  feel  the  necessity  of  complying  with,  is  held 
in  universal  estimation.  And  there  must  be  some 
ground  upon  which  such  an  opinion  is  based.  The 
thing  itself  is  of  some  consequence.  That  there  is, 
then,  a  satisfaction  in  sitting  upon  the  throne  of  even 
the  fashionable  world,  should  not  be  denied — that  even 
the  favored  courtiers  of  the  palace  may  feel  them- 
selves justified,  in  the  deference  which  they  expect, 
is  obvious.  There  is  none,  be  he  ever  so  powerful 
and  high,  who  is  excluded  from  the  dominion  of  the 
master  whom  they  serve.  Even  "  the  first  gentleman 
in  Europe,"  as  George  the  Fourth  was  called,  it  is 
said  was,  in  this  respect,  the  servile  follower  of  an 
ingenious  upstart.  Yet  this  pearl  need  not  be  set  in 
the  groundwork  of  ridicule,  but  in  that  of  simple 
truthfulness,  in  order  to  show  how  contemptible  it 
appears,  when  that  immortal  spirit  wliich  God  hath 
given  us,  views  it  as  its  priceless  ornament.  The 
acknowledged  dictators  in  what  is  sometimes  called 
"fashionable  society,"  are  often  known  to  be  mere 
senseless  idols,  which  are  worshipped  because  he  and 
she  have  been  dressed  by  some  tailor,  or  milliner  and 
mantua-maker.  Nay,  if  they,  and  not  their  workmen, 
be  the  real  kings — giving  law  to  the  world  for  which 
they  live — it  is  worse.  For  how  supremely  trifling,  to 
spend  one's  time  in  devising  the  set  of  drapery,  or 
in  tying  a  peculiar  knot ! 

Or  if  fasliion  be  regarded  as  extending  to  etiquette, 
and  even  to  the  higher  manners,  which  only  the  select 
few  can  appreciate,  how  hollow  and  unsatisfying  are 
the  pleasures  which  are  to  be  reaped  within  this  envied 
circle !     No  trust  is  exercised  in  each  other,  even 


THE  PEARL.  71 

among  its  most  favored  votaries.  Inward  contempt  is 
but  thinly  veiled  behind  outward  homage.  Under  a 
restrained  exterior,  too,  afflictive  passions  often  rage, 
and  prey  upon  the  inner  man.  Or,  if  natui^al  amia- 
bility insure  some  degree  of  quietness,  in  what  heart- 
less customs  is  the  fashionist  doomed  to  pass  his  life  ! 
It  can  scarcely  happen  that  a  noble  soul  can  long  seek 
for  its  highest  portion  in  such  a  coterie.  Even  though 
we  resort  to  other  worldly  methods  of  gratifying  self, 
the  utmost  that  the  wise  in  tliis  respect  content  them- 
selves with,  is  to  leave  this  sway  of  fashion  to  its 
devotees,  and  perhaps  silently,  and  without  much 
care,  to  observe  and  follow  its  laws  to  such  a  degree 
as  is  allowable,  and  as  will  not  render  them  singular. 

Tliis  renunciation  will  often  occur,  even  among  those 
whose  hearts  are  unchanged,  and  who  have  not  savingly 
learnt  the  lesson,  that  "  the  fashion  of  this  world  pass- 
eth  away."  But  in  what  light  w^ill  they  regard  "fash- 
ion," who  have  been  taught  to  view  theu'  entire  earthly 
existence  as  a  vapor,  that  appeareth  for  a  little  time 
and  then  vanisheth  away !  How  does  the  grace  of 
fasliion  perish  in  the  last  hours  of  life !  Though  wliile 
they  do  well  unto  themselves,  they  be  admired  and 
envied,  yet,  "  as  a  dream,  when  one  awaketh,  so  does 
the  Lord,  when  he  awakes,  despise  the  image"  of  the 
leaders  and  followers  of  the  fashion  of  this  world.  No 
experienced  character,  then,  will  long  consider  fashion 
as  a  goodly  pearl. 

But  wiU  our  disappointed  seeker  for  happiness  now 
resort  to  ijleasure^  as  the  best  means  of  secm'hig  his 
ungodly  end  ?  This  very  commonly  happens.  Fasliion 
is  often  viewed  by  its  votaries  as  a  mere  means  to  an 


72  THE  PEARL. 

end.  The  rank  and  admiration  which  many  endeavor 
to  gain  through  it,  they  propose  to  use  only  as  a  ladder 
to  some  eligible  settlement  in  life.  And  when  disap- 
pointment in  this  respect  occurs,  at  once  they  change 
their  course.  They  become,  as  to  character  and  per- 
sonal appearance,  entirely  reckless.  Free  scope  is 
given  to  the  most  unbridled  passions  and  lusts.  In- 
stead of  promenading  the  streets,  gaily  and  fashiona- 
bly clad,  and  associating  with  circles,  whose  exterior, 
at  least,  commands  the  respect  and  envy  of  most,  the 
youth  begins  to  frequent  the  haunts  of  dissipation  and 
infamy.  The  penalty  of  a  broken  constitution,  it  may 
be,  is  soon  entailed  by  a  career  of  the  grossest  indul- 
gence ;  and  the  experience  of  utter  insufficiency,  even 
while  gratifying  every  desire,  and  of  the  despair  and 
ruin  which  follow,  proves  to  his  own  satisfaction,  that 
pleasure  is  not  a  "  goodly  pearl." 

Or,  if  he  plunge  not  into  such  an  abyss  as  this,  but 
float  upon  the  surface  of  society,  and  be  known  as  one 
who  consults  his  own  ease  and  gratification  at  every 
step — ^like  a  butterfly  alighting  upon  every  flower  that 
attracts — still,  in  even  this  apparently  superficial  cha- 
racter, there  are  deep  wants,  which  all  that  such  a 
life  is  capable  of  yielding,  will  not  satisfy.  There  are 
miscarriages  and  bereavements,  which  will  often  force 
reflection  upon  the  mind.  In  the  midst  of  apparent 
gaiety,  there  may  be  inward  despondency  and  wretch- 
edness; and  the  envied  man  of  pleasure  might  be  glad 
to  exchange  liis  lot  with  the  frugal  and  despised,  whose 
aspirations  would  be  considered  as  amounting  to  mad- 
ness, if  they  rose  higher  than  contentment  with  their 
portion  on  the  earth. 


THE  PEARL.  73 

But  how  would  such  afflictive  thoughts  be  barbed, 
and  rankle  in  the  mind,  when  God's  threatenings  in 
his  word,  so  strikingly  confirmed  by  his  faithful  provi- 
dence, arrest  attention ;  and,  in  the  midst  of  reckless 
pleasure,  tliis  writing  is  read  upon  the  wall:  "Rejoice, 
0  young  man !  in  thy  youth ;  and  let  thy  heart  cheer 
thee  in  the  days  of  thy  youth,  and  walk  in  the  ways 
of  thy  heart,  and  in  the  sight  of  thine  eyes  :  but  know 
thou,  that  for  all  these  things  God  will  bring  thee  into 
judgment."  By  such  an  anticipation,  the  ''  night  of 
one's  pleasure  is  turned  into  fear ;"  and,  instead  of  the 
merchantman  having  taken  up  a  "goodly  pearl,"  it 
proves  a  sharp  stone,  which,  the  tighter  he  grasps  it, 
the  more  it  pierces  his  hand. 

But,  thirdly,  cases  have  been  known,  where,  after 
fashion  and  pleasure  have  been  tried  and  found  want- 
ing, the  seeker  of  happiness  has  allowed  ambition  to 
take  possession  of  his  mind,  and  flatters  himself  that 
place  and  power  will  confer  all  that  he  has  in  view. 
But  how  often  is  pre-eminent  abihty,  when  coupled 
with  honesty,  frustrated  in  every  attempt  at  self-ex- 
altation !  The  populace  will  seldom  bear  independence 
on  the  part  of  candidates  for  their  favor.  The  most  san- 
guine hopes  of  the  noblest  natures  among  the  ambitious 
are  thus  blighted,  before  their  object  is  reached.  As  a 
consequence,  gloom  often  fflls  their  mind,  and  the  world 
seems  covered  with  a  pall. 

Or  if  success  attend  our  efforts,  and  the  earthly 
pinnacle  of  power  be  reached,  although  victory  over 
difficulties  and  opposers  may,  at  fu'st,  lead  us  to 
exult,  yet  the  cares  of  office  furrow  the  face,  and  may 
even  cause  premature  decay.  Possibly,  too,  we  may  out- 
live the  period  of  our  exaltation,  and,  in  a  subsequent 


74  THE  PEAEL. 

obscurity,  then  hard  to  be  borne,  we  may  spend  the 
remnant  of  our  days.  "While  wearing  the  crown,  our 
head  was  thus  uneasy;  and  afterward,  the  lamentation 
of  the  Enghsh  cardinal  is  wrung  from  our  unavailing 
and  afilictive  remorse :  "  Had  I  but  served  my  God 
with  half  the  zeal  I  served  my  king,  he  would  not  in 
mine  age  have  left  me  naked  to  mine  enemies."  Such, 
at  least,  when  they  come  to  encounter  "the  last 
enemy,"  is  the  uniform  confession  of  those  who  have 
outstripjDed  aU  rivals  in  the  race  for  power,  and  have 
been  enabled  to  look  from  the  goal  with  contempt  upon 
every  distanced  competitor. 

Thus  does  God  visit  every  one  who  is  disobedient 
to  the  heavenly  vision,  when  it  addresed  him,  saying : 
"  Seekest  thou  great  things  for  thyself?  Seek  them 
not."  Sooner  or  later,  those  who  have  "kindled  a 
fire,  and  compassed  themselves  about  with  sparks,  who 
have  walked  in  the  light  of  their  fire,  and  in  the  sparks 
that  they  have  kindled,  have  this  of  God's  hand,  that 
they  lie  down  in  sorrow."  However  captivating,  then, 
may  be  the  path  which  ambition  prompts  the  seeker 
of  happiness  to  pursue,  in  the  end  he  finds  that  the 
reward  which  he  obtains  is  not  a  "  goodly  pearl." 

But  fourthly,  the  character  represented  by  the 
merchantman  in .  our  parable,  does  not,  even  at  this 
point,  give  over  his. search.  The  retired  and  mortified 
governor,  or  president,  ceases  to  serve  the  ungrateful 
public,  and  turns  his  attention  to  that  which  he  per- 
suades himself  to  regard  as  more  substantial,  and 
which  he  would  fain  call  his  own ;  "he  makes  gold  his 
hope,  and  saith  unto  the  fine  gold,  TJiou  art  my  eonfi- 
dencer    But,  although  the  secret  avenues  to  fortune 


THE  PEARL.  75 

may  be  familiar  to  one  who  has  so  long  held  the  keys 
of  their  gates  in  his  grasp,  and  he  may  consequently 
turn   everything   into   treasure   by  his   touch;  nay, 
though  he  at  first  rejoice,  "because  his  wealth  is  great, 
and  because  his  hand  hath  gotten  much,"  yet  he  soon 
finds  that  this  itself  is  "an  iniquity  to  be  punished  by 
the  judge."     Illustrations,  indeed,  are  so  common,  of 
"  a  man's  Ufe  not  consisting  in  the  abundance  of  the 
things  which  he  possesseth,"  that  each  of  my  hearers 
is  prepared  to  expect  the  announcement,  in  accordance 
with  God's  word,  that  this  "merchantman"  "is  not 
satisfied  with  the  silver  which  he  loves."    Nay,  every 
observer  of  events  would  consider  it  mkaculous,  if  the 
"  woe"  which  is  denounced  by  the  prophet  were  not 
poured  out  unto  the  uttermost  upon  "  him  that  covet- 
eth  an  evil  covetousness  to  his  house,  that  he  may  set 
his  house  on  high,  that  he  may  be  delivered  from  the 
power   of  evil."     Ultimately,  the   "  rich  man  fades 
away  in  his  ways ;  his  silver  and  his  gold  is  not  able 
to  deliver  him  in  the  day  of  the  wrath  of  the  Lord," 
and,  "pierced   through  with  many  sorrows,"  he  is 
"  drowned  in  destruction  and  perdition." 

Experience  and  foresight,  then,  are  sufficient  to  con- 
vince every  heaper  up  of  riches,  that  although  his  soul 
has  been  searching  for  "  goodly  pearls,"  yet  he  has 
found  none  in  all  that  wealth  wliich  God  has  given 
him  power  to  get. 

But,  finally,  shall  this  seeker  after  happiness  re- 
nounce fashion,  pleasure,  power,  and  wealth  as  his 
dependence,  and  resort  in  his  old  age  to  fUlosojphj,  as 
his  solace  and  support?  Such  an  experience  as  his 
now  is,  superinduced  upon  good  natural  talents,  may 


lb  THE  PEAEL. 

soon  acquii'e  trea.sures  of  wisdom  and  knowledge.  So 
universal  may  be  the  acquaintance  of  a  man  like  this 
with  the  world  and  its  affairs,  that  it  may  be  no  vain 
boast  on  his  part,  of  there  "being  to  him  nothing  new 
under  the  sun."  But,  while  such  earthly  knowledge 
has  its  uses,  and  cannot  but  command  human  respect, 
yet  it  utterly  fails  of  yielding  to  its  possessor  that 
which  he  sought  for  in  its  pursuit.  It  "puffs  him  up." 
But,  although  not  "proud,"  withoi^t  some  seeming 
ground  for  his  pretensions,  yet  he  "knows  nothing" 
which  confers  happiness  and  peace  upon  himself. 
Though  he  may  render  all  nature  tributary  to  his 
comfort,  yet  nature  can  yield  nothing  which  provides 
for  the  wants  and  satisfies  the  longings  of  the  soul. 
Nay,  the  more  one  knows  the  more  sensible  does  he 
become  that  there  are  unfathomable  necessities  which 
no  natural  knowledge  can  point  out  the  means  of 
Supplying — that  there  are  certain  and  overwhelming 
evils  which  must  overtake  all  ere  long;  and  thus  the 
greatest  earthly  philosopher  is  forced,  with  Solomon, 
to  acknowledge,  that  "in  much  msdom  is  much  grief; 
and  that  he  that  increaseth  knowledge  increaseth 
sorrow."  And,  moreover,  "how  dieth  the  wise  man-? 
as  the  fool."  "One  event  happeneth  to  them  all." 
Then  the  wise  man  saith  in  his  heart,  "As  it  happeneth 
to  the  fool  so  it  happeneth  even  to  me;  and  why  was 
I  then  more  wise?  Then  he  saith  in  his  heart  that 
this  also  is  vanity." 

Having  now  run  through  the  entire  round,  and 
experiencing  only  "vexation  of  spirit"  in  all — the 
original  seeker  for  happiness  has  learnt  "to  hate  life, 
and  to  feel  that  every  work  which  is  done  under  the 


THE  PEARL.  77 

sun  is  grievous  unto  liim."  Whither,  then,  shall  this 
merchantman  look  or  go  in  his  search  for  "goodly 
pearls  ?"  He,  who  felt  certain  at  the  outset  of  secur- 
ing such  "an  increase  of  goods  as  to  have  need  of 
nothing,  is  now  convinced  that  he  is  poor,  and  blind, 
and  naked,  and  has  need  of  all  things."  Even  the 
blessings  of  his  fallen  state,  this  ungodly  seeker  after 
happiness  sees,  have  been  turned  into  curses;  and  on 
the  verge  of  despau-  he  cries  out :  "  0,  wretched  man 
that  I  am!" 

But  ere  this  unsuccessful  merchantman  gives  over 
his  search,  let  him  seriously  ask — Wherefore  is  this? 
Why  has  the  mighty,  and  wise,  and  holy,  and  good 
God,  thus  cursed  the  earth,  that  it  can  yield  to  me 
only  briars  and  thorns?  and  thus  cursed  me,  that  I 
am  as  incapable  of  extractmg  any  real  substantial 
blessedness  from  all  things  under  heaven,  as  a  dead 
man  is?  The  resolution  of  this  point  excites  his 
deepest  interest.  His  soul  now  loathes  that,  after 
which  it  had  so  recently  hungered  and  thirsted.  He 
now  turns  away  from  all  that  the  world  offers,  with 
the  exclamation:  "There  is  death  in  it!"  The  coun- 
tenance of  this  disappointed  worldling  falls,  like  Cain's. 
And,  in  answer  to  his  inquiry,  God  informs  this  gloomy 
spirit,  that  if  "  he  does  not  well,  it  is  because  sin  Heth 
at  the  door:"  that  he  himself  is  cursed,  because  "he 
has  not  continued  in  all  things  which  are  written  in 
the  book  of  the  law,  to  do  them;"  that  he  is,  to  all 
intents  and  purposes,  dead  to  true  and  lasting  happi- 
ness, in  consequence  of,  and  as  a  punishment  to  his 
being  "dead  in  trespasses  and  sins;"  nay,  that  his 
late  persevering  endeavors  to  refresh  himself  out  of 


78  THE  PEARL. 

creature  cisterns,  was  the  most  sinful  obstinacy  in 
refusing  to  drink  from  the  fountain  of  living  waters ; 
and  that  these  creature  cisterns  have  been  broken, 
that  so  they  might  hold  no  water  for  him ;  that  the 
whole  earth  has  been  bidden  to  yield  only  thorns  and 
thistles  to  man,  because  he  has  fallen. 

Now,  then,  the  merchant  has  learnt  that  the  pearl 
for  which  he  has  been  seeking,  Adam  had  in  God ; 
that  God  made  the  soul  of  man  such,  that  it  could 
find  only  in  himself  that  for  which  it  must  forever 
naturally  long;  and  that,  when  man  cast  off  God  as 
his  portion,  God  even  cursed  those  things  which  he 
had  made  and  pronounced  "good"  at  the  first,  and  so 
now  the  creatures  cannot  yield  to  man,  that  which 
they  originally  would  have  done ;  and  instead  of  bless- 
ings they  prove  to  the  sinner  only  curses  in  the  end. 
The  laborious  search  for  happiness  and  the  disappointed 
experience  of  the  unbeHever  have  thus  far  resulted  in 
endowing  him  with  an  evil  treasure;  he  has  become 
conscious  of  deeper  necessities  in  himself,  and  of  all 
supply  from  creatures  having  been  cut  off;  and  in 
wretchedness  at  his  prospects,  and  under  deep  anguish 
at  the  conviction  of  that  guilt  of  his  nature  and  his 
life  which  has  brought  him  under  such  a  curse — this 
alien  from  God  cries  out,  "What  must  I  do?"  In 
God's  word  of  grace  he  reads,  that  '■'•the  seed  of  the 
woman  should  bruise"  under  his  feet  the  cause  of  all 
this  evil  under  which  he  now  groans;  that  from  "the 
wind  and  tempest"  which  now  sweep  around  and 
descend  upon  the  defenceless  head  of  this  homeless 
wanderer,  "«  man  shall  be  as  an  hiding-place,  and  a 
covert."     He  learns  that  God,  in  his  boundless  love, 


THE  PEARL.  79 

has  descended  from  his  throne  to  seek  out  and  deliver 
his  wretched  outcast,  that  God  has  even  clothed  and 
manifested  himself  in  flesh,  that  so  he  might  bestow 
himself  in  a  closer  and  more  unreserved  way  than 
ever  upon  the  consciously-lost  soul. 

What  an  all-sufficient  proof,  too,  of  the  fixed  self- 
sacrificing  character  of  this  gracious  purpose  is  afforded 
upon  Calvary.  There,  the  now  wretched  worldUng, 
convicted  of  his  sins,  sees  "  Christ  made  a  ciu-se  for 
him,  in  order  to  redeem  him  from  the  curse."  He 
beholds  all  his  own  ill-desert  laid  upon  and  borne  by 
that  Divine  Lamb  which  God  hath  provided  as  an 
offering  for  sin.  He  is  assm^ed  by  the  Gospel  that, 
if,  with  an  utter  renunciation  of  his  own  merits,  nay, 
with  the  most  unreserved  self-condemnation,  he  trust 
in  Jesus  as  his  sacrifice  for  sin,  at  once  all  the 
righteousness  of  God's  incarnate  Son  will  be  reckoned 
to  his  soul,  and  the  reprobate  will  be  "accepted  in  the 
Beloved."  He  is  told  that  "  Christ  will  then  dwell  in 
his  heart  by  faith,"  and  become  there  "the  hope  of 
glory," — that  the  grace  and  presence  of  this  his  re- 
covered God  will  suffice  for  every  time  of  need;  that 
his  Redeemer  will  reverse  the  condition  in  which  he 
was  by  nature,  and  where  his  blessings  were  cursed, 
by  now  turning  even  evils  into  blessings,  and  making 
all  things  work  for  good ;  that  the  very  fulhiess  of  the 
Godhead  bodily  will  be  made  over  to  him,  by  covenant, 
as  his  eternal  inheritance,  that  through  Christ  he  will 
have  some  foretaste  in  time,  and  the  full  enjoyment 
hereafter  of  more  blessings  than  Adam  lost — an  ad- 
mission to  more  than  angeMc  closeness  to  him  who  sits 
upon  the  throne,  and  the  privilege  of  singing  a  song 


80  THE  PEARL. 

to  the  praise  of  God's  grace,  which  no  man  can  sing 
but  they  who  are  redeemed  from  the  earth. 

Disajipointed,  then,  in  his  search  for  "goodly  pearls," 
tlie  merchant  has  here  found  the  "pearl  of  great  price." 
Prepared  by  Providence  to  sell  all  that  he  had— r 
taught  by  God's  spirit  through  his  word,  he  now  buys, 
by  an  exclusive  trust,  "Christ  as  his  all  and  in  all;" 
and  the  testimony  of  his  experience,  both  in  time  and 
eternity,  will  be,  that  of  not  one-half  of  the  precious- 
ness  of  this  pearl  had  he  been  told.  He  uniformly 
challenges  all  things  to  separate  him  from  the  love  of 
God,  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus  his  Lord. 

My  hearers,  how  many  of  you  are  now  recklessly 
pursuing  the  first  stages  in  the  course  of  that  character 
whose  footsteps  we  have  traced  to-night,  and  an  illus- 
tration of  whose  case  our  Lord's  merchantman  affords ! 
Oh!  that  you  would  be  convinced  now,  both  of  its 
madness  and  sin;  for  you  may  not  be  spared  to  go  the 
entire  round — ^that  you  woidd,  in  the  way  described, 
at  once  make  Christ,  the  pearl  of  great  price,  yours. 
Then  experience  will  enable  you  to  give  this  counsel 
to  the  world :  "  Let  not  the  wise  man  glory  in  his 
wisdom,  neither  let  the  mighty  man  glory  in  his  might, 
but  let  him  that  glorieth  glory  in  this,  that  he  under- 
standeth  and  knoweth  God  in  Christ."  You  will  fully 
appreciate  the  infatuated  children  of  this  Avorld ;  and 
as  you  look  on  them,  will  exclaim  with  David :  "  There 
be  many  that  say,  who  will  show  us  any  good.  Lord 
lift  thou  up  the  hght  of  thy  countenance  upon  us. 
Thou  hast  put  gladness  in  my  heart  more  than  in  the 
time  when  their  corn  and  their  wine  increased." 


SEMON  YI. 


THE  PARABLE  OF  THE  FIG-TREE. 


Luke  xiii.  6-9. 


"He  spake   also  this   parable:    a  certain  man   had  a  fig-tree 
planted  in  his  vineyard  ;    and  he  came  and  sought   fruit 

THEREON,  AND  FOUND  NONE,  ThEN  SAID  HE  UNTO  THE  DRESSER  OF 
HIS  VINEYARD,  BeHOLD,  THESE  THREE  YEARS  I  COME  SEEKING  FRUIT 
ON  THIS  FIG-TREE,  AND  FIND  NONE:  CUT  IT  DOWN;  WHY  CUMBERETH 
IT  THE  GROUND?  AnD  HE,  ANSWERING,  SAID  UNTO  HIM,  LoRD,  LET 
IT  ALONE  THIS  YEAR  ALSO,  TILL  I  SHALL  DIG  ABOUT  IT,  AND  DUNG 
it:  and  if  IT  BEAR  FRUIT,  WELL:  AND  IF  NOT,  THEN  AFTER  THAT 
THOU  SHALT  CUT  IT  DOWN." 

The  exact  object  of  our  Lord  in  this  parable  cannot 
be  ascertained,  excejDt  by  a  close  examination  of  the 
conversation  which  previously  took  place  between  him 
and  some  of  those  who,  the  evangelist  says,  were 
"present  at  that  season."  An  important  general  law 
of  God's  kingdom,  too,  may  be  ehcited  from  that 
conversation;  although  the  law  is  not  explicitly  stated. 
The  knowledge  of  it  will  be  useful  to  us  upon  all 
occasions;  but  we  are  now  especially  bound  to  dis- 
cover and  apply  it,  as  our  parable  is  only  an  illustra- 
tion of  it. 

Urged  then,  perhaps,  simply  by  that  propensity  to 
communicate  sad  tidings,  which  the  observers  of  human 
nature  have  laid  down  as  one  of  its  characteristics, — 
6 


82  THE  PARABLE  OF  THE  FIG-TREE. 

some  of  our  Saviour's  companions  "told  him  of  the 
Galileans,  whose  blood  Pilate  had  mingled  with  their 
sacrifices."  Though  these  persons  belonged  to  Herod's 
jurisdiction,  yet  the  Governor  of  Judea  hesitated  not 
to  proceed  in  this  summary  way.  Whether  this  act 
led  to  that  rupture  which,  we  know,  afterwards  existed 
between  Herod  and  Pilate,  or  whether  it  was  itself 
occasioned  by  some  previous  misunderstanding  be- 
tween these  rulers,  there  is  no  means  of  ascertaining. 
Indeed,  we  know  not  that  the  sufferers  themselves 
were  guilty  of  any  crime  which  merited  this  severe 
punishment  at  the  hands  of  the  governor.  They  may 
have  been  the  innocent  victims  of  his  spite  against 
their  king.  Rightly  viewing,  however,  man's  act  as 
the  providence  of  God,  our  Lord's  informers  drew  the 
wrong  inference,  that  "these  Galileans  must  have  been 
sinners  above  all  the  Galileans,"  because,  in  the  very 
act  of  typifying  their  faith  in  the  Lamb  that  was  to 
be  slain  for  sin,  divine  vengeance  seemed  to  overtake 
them,  and  their  own  blood  was  made  to  mingle  with 
that  of  the  sacrifices  which  they  were  offering  to  God. 

Against  such  a  construction  of  this  providence  our 
Saviour  protested,  and  warned  his  informers,  that 
"unless  they  repented  they  should  all  likewise  perish." 

Selecting,  then,  another  instance  of  calamity,  in  which 
the  hand  of  God  was  more  evidently  and  immediately 
concerned,  Jesus  denies  that  even  it  afforded  any 
premises  for  the  conclusion  which  they  were  disposed 
to  draw,  and  reiterates  the  warning  which  had  just 
proceeded  from  his  lips.  "Or,"  inquires  the  Lord, 
"  those  eighteen  upon  whom  the  tower  in  Siloam  fell, 
and  slew  them,  think'ye  that  they  were  sinners  above 


THE  PARABLE  OF  THE  FIG-TREE.  83 

all  men  that  dwelt  in  Jerusalem  ?  I  teU  you,  nay :  but, 
excej^t  ye  repent,  ye  shall  all  hkewise  perish." 

It  is  not  here  taught  that  the  sufferers  upon  these 
two  occasions  were  not  sinners — for,  without  sin,  no 
evil  could  ever  have  befallen  any  creature  in  any 
world, — all  that  is  insisted  is,  that  they  were  not 
pre-eminent  in  guilt.  It  is  agamst  the  supposition 
that  man  is  a  capable  expounder  of  the  providence  of 
Grod — it  is  against  that  tendency  in  human  nature  to 
connect  calamity  with  some  heinous  crime,  that  our 
Saviour  protests.  He  would  teach  that  it  is  impossible, 
either  in  our  own  or  another's  case,  to  trace  providen- 
tial acts  to  the  causes  which  led  to  them  in  the  divine 
mind ;  that  none  hath  stood  in  the  counsel  of  the  Lord, 
neither  doth  he  give  an  account  of  his  matters  unto 
any  man.  He  would  inform  us  that  sudden,  and  what 
is  called  unnatural  death — if  any  persist  in  regarding 
it  as  a  special  mark  of  God's  displeasure — (though  we 
are  far  from  doing  so,)  that  aU  divine  judgments  are 
ordered  in  a  way  inscrutable  to  creatures.  They  may 
have  been  occasioned  by  occurrences  in  the  spiritual 
world  unknown  and  unsuspected  by  us. 

Often,  if  we  could  see  the  nature  and  extent  of  that 
divine  mercy  which  went  before  the  affliction,  although 
we  might  indeed  be  terror-struck  by  the  judgment 
which  ultimately  befell — still,  often,  if  the  veil  were 
taken  away,  we  might  not  be  able  to  detect  any  posi- 
tively heinous  transgression  w^hich  seemed  to  call 
down  the  vengeance, — ^mere  acts  of  omission  might 
appear  to  be  the  only  crimes,  a  simple  neglect  of  the 
offers  and  means  of  grace  might  be  proved  to  be  the 
only  offence, — ^and  yet  our  minds  would  be  so  iui- 


84  THE  PARABLE  OF  THE  FIG-TREE. 

pressed,  as  well  with  the  previous  forbearance  of  the 
Almighty,  as  with  the  overwhelming  force  of  the  stroke 
which  he  finally  dealt,  that  we  would  cry  out  in 
amazement:  "Behold  both  the  goodness  and  severity 
of  God !"  This  is  the  law  of  the  kingdom  of  Heaven, 
which  our  Saviour  proceeds  to  illustrate  in  the  parable 
that  we  have  read. 

Some  have  supposed,  that  in  thus  impressing  upon 
his  hearers  this  principle  of  God's  government,  special 
reference  was  had  to  the  divine  forbearance  towards 
Jerusalem,  and  the  overthrow  with  which  it  finally 
met — that  those  two  instances  of  calamity  which  had 
been  adduced  were  only  foretastes  of  the  universal 
judgment  in  reserve — that  as  these  Jews  had  been 
killed  by  darts  and  falling  walls,  so,  unless  they  re- 
pented, all  would  likewise  perish  amid  the  ruins  of  the 
city  and  under  the  weapons  of  the  Roman  soldiery. 
That  the  case  of  the  Jews  was  included  in  the  law 
which  Christ  lays  down,  cannot  be  doubted ;  yet,  with 
an  ancient  Father  of  the  church,  we  conclude,  that 
what  was  a  warning  to  the  Jews  is  appUcable  to  all, 
and  especially  to  us.  The  principle  here  illustrated 
is  one  upon  which  God  has  proceeded  in  every  age. 
Before  the  deluge,  one  hundred  and  twenty  years 
were  vouchsafed  the  earth  for  repentance — during 
which  God's  Spirit  strove  with  man.  Ere  Sodom  and 
Gomorrah  were  destroyed,  Abraham  was  permitted  to 
intercede;  and  God  evinced  his  willingness  to  spare. 
The  second  coming  of  our  Lord  is  deferred  with  this 
explicit  purpose — that  "all  should  come  to  repentance." 
It  is,  then,  a  principle  upon  which  God  always  pro- 
ceeds, that  we  are  called  upon  to  consider  now. 


THE  PARABLE  OF  THE  FIG-TREE.  85 

Its  illustration  begins  with  these  words :  "A  certain 
man  had  a  fig  tree  planted  in  his  vineyard."  How 
often  do  the  sacred  Scriptures,  brethren,  compare  us 
to  trees!  They  assure  us,  that  "a  tree  is  known  by 
its  fruits."  The  psalmist  likens  the  man  whose  dehght 
is  in  the  law  of  the  Lord,  to  "a  tree  planted  by  the 
rivers  of  water,  that  bringeth  forth  his  fruit  in  his 
season;  his  leaf  also  shall  not  wither;  and  whatsoever 
he  doeth  shall  prosper."  While  Jeremiah  illustrates 
the  ultimately  comfortless  condition  of  the  man  that 
maketh  flesh  his  aim,  by  the  state  of  "a  heath  in  the 
desert,  inhabiting  parched  places  in  the  wilderness,  in 
a  salt  land  and  not  inhabited." 

But  we  are  further  told,  that  the  owner  of  the  vine- 
yard before  us,  "came  and  sought  fruit  upon  liis  fig- 
tree,  and  found  none."  How  numerous,  too,  are  the 
passages  of  God's  word,  in  which  the  works  of  men 
are  compared  to  fruit!  "Ye  shall  know  them,"  said 
our  Lord,  of  his  professed  disciples,  "by  their  fruits. 
Do  men  gather  grapes  of  thorns,  or  figs  of  thistles? 
Even  so  every  good  tree  bringeth  forth  good  fruit; 
but  a  corrupt  tree  bringeth  forth  evil  fruit."  "  There 
is  a  wonderful  significance,"  says  an  occasionally  dis- 
criminating writer,  "in  this  simple  image — the  fruit 
being  the  organic  produce  and  evidence  of  the  inner 
life,  not  something  arbitrarily  attached  or  fastened  on 
it  from  without.  There  are  three  kinds  of  works 
spoken  of  in  the  New  Testament,  which  may  all,"  he 
justly  thinks,  "be  illustrated  from  this  image:  first 
good  works,  when,  the  tree  being  made  good,  bears 
fruit  of  the  same  character — then  dead  works,  such 
as  have  a  fair  outward  appearance,  but  are  not  the 


86  THE  PARABLE  OF  THE  FIG-TREE. 

living  growth  of  the  renewed  man^and  lastly,  wicJced 
works,  when  the  corrupt  tree  bears  fruit  manifestly  of 
its  ow^n  kind." 

But,  to  pursue  our  simile,  how  often,  too,  is  God 
represented,  when  inquiring  into  the  characters  and 
hves  of  his  people,  as  the  owner  of  a  vineyard  search- 
ing for  fruit,  and  complaining  because  he  finds  none, 
or  else  that  which  is  not  good.  We  read  in  the  pro- 
phet: "the  vineyard  of  the  Lord  of  hosts  is  the  house 
of  Israel,  and  the  men  of  Judah  his  pleasant  plant: 
and  he  looked  that  it  should  bring  forth  grapes,  and 
it  brought  forth  wUd  grapes — ^he  looked  for  judgment, 
but  behold  oppression,  and  for  righteousness,  but 
behold  a  cry:"  and  again,  "Israel  is  an  empty  vine." 

The  owner  examining  his  barren  fig-tree,  in  our 
]3arable,  is  then  God  looking  upon  the  soul,  which 
bears  no  fruit  to  him.  But  our  parable  proceeds: 
"  Then,  said  the  owner  unto  the  dresser  of  his  vine- 
yard. Behold  these  three  years  I  come  seeking  fruit 
on  this  fig-tree,  and  find  none:  cut  it  down,  why 
cumbereth  it  the  ground  ?"  Whom  does  this  "  dresser 
of  the  vineyard"  represent?  It  is  He,  you  observe, 
whose  office  it  would  have  been  to  cut  down  the  tree : 
evidently,  He  into  whose  hands  the  affairs  of  the  vine- 
yard are  committed :  in  other  words.  He,  who  is  head 
over  all  things  to  His  Church.  And,  Oh!  what  a 
faithful,  and  tender,  and  self-denying  dresser  of  the 
vineyard  is  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ !  All  feel  that  he 
is  authorized  in  the  appeal:  "What  more  could  I  have 
done  to  my  vineyard  that  I  have  not  done  in  it?" 
What  love,  and  care,  and  wisdom  hath  he  manifested 
in  the  treatment  of  his  conscious  plants !     He  hath 


THE  PARABLE  OF  THE  FIG-TREE.  87 

watered  the  vineyard  with  his  own  blood — ordering 
all  things  to  fructify  his  field — never  slumbering  night 
or  day,  but  watching  to  see  if  it  would  bear  fruit. 
In  all  this,  however,  he  is  but  the  Father's  agent — 
bound  to  execute  the  will  of  the  first  Person  of  the 
Trinity,  who  represents  the  rights  and  claims  of  God 
in  the  arrangement  and  disposal  of  the  trees. 

Nor  is  the  Father  unconcerned.  He,  too,  is  gra- 
ciously anxious  for  fruit.  "Lo,  these  three  years  I 
come !"  At  every  return  of  the  season  in  which  fruit 
is  borne,  and  when  it  may  be  of  right  expected,  "the 
Lord  walketh  amid  the  trees  of  the  garden."  His  own 
love  for  the  trees  which  are  planted  in  the  visible 
courts  of  his  house,  prompts  the  desire  that  they  should 
bear.  His  interest  in  the  glory  of  "  the  dresser  of  his 
vineyard,"  makes  him  unwiUing  that  any  plant  should 
be  barren,  or  should  droop  and  die.  In  every  case, 
therefore,  he  forbears.  But  his  long-suffering  hath 
bounds.  God's  claims  must  not  be  too  long  deferred. 
Christ's  efforts  must  not  be  made  in  vain.  And  "  Lo, 
these  three  years  he  had  come  seeking  fruit,  and  found 
none."  His  voice  is,  therefore,  heard  amidst  the  trees, 
"cut  this  one  down."  It  is  unproductive  and  useless 
— it  also  "  cumbers  the  ground." — It  not  only  occupies 
the  space  which  might  be  fiUed  by  a  fruitfid  tree,  but 
it  absolutely  vitiates  the  soil,  and  prevents  the  growth 
of  all  around. 

Alas !  how  truly  is  the  picture  here  drawn  of  many 
a  soul  in  every  church  and  congregation  in  the  land ! 
Bringing  forth  no  fruits  meet  for  repentance,  and,  too, 
destroying  much  good, — ^yet,  aU  the  while,  the  object 
of  the  dresser's  care — the  means  of  grace  abundantly 


88  THE  PARABLE  OF  THE  FIG-TREE. 

applied,  instruction  given  to  the  mind,  appeals  made 
to  the  affections,  warning  and  invitation  repeated  over 
and  again — yet  the  heart  only  hardening  in  impeni- 
tence, and  by  the  influence  of  example  countenancing, 
and  leading  others  on,  in  unbelief  and  sin!  Is  it 
wonderful  that  God's  long-suffering  at  length  is  stayed, 
and  that  he  enjoins  "the  dresser  of  his  vineyard  to 
cut  it  down,  as  cumbering  the  ground?" 

But  now  hear,  in  the  parable,  the  intercession  of 
our  great  High-Priest.  "Lord,  let  it  alone  this  year 
also,  till  I  shall  dig  about  it,  and  dung  it :  and  if  it 
bear  fruit,  well :  and  if  not,  then  after  that  thou  shalt 
cut  it  down." 

Brethren,  how  full  of  compassion  is  he  whom  God 
hath  appointed  as  the  one  with  whom  we  have  to  do ! 
He  wept  over  Jerusalem,  even  after  its  doom  was 
sealed :  and  so  long  as  any  prospect  of  success  is  held 
out,  he  will  persevere  in  the  use  of  the  measures  of 
grace — nay,  he  will  be  more  dihgent  than  ever  in 
their  application.  He  will  lay  bare  the  roots,  scoop 
out  the  native  earth,  and  enrich  the  soil — that  so 
perchance,  the  tree  may  bear  fruit. 

How  often  is  the  antitype  of  tliis  witnessed  in  the 
church  of  Christ !  A  fruitless  soul  is  transplanted  to 
a  richer  soil,  brought  within  the  influence  of  a  gospel 
fully,  clearly,  freely  preached — associated  with  the 
prayerful  and  spiritually-minded — and  breathing  some- 
what of  the  atmosphere  of  heaven  on  earth :  or  else, 
new  hfe  and  vigor  are  imparted  from  on  high  to  means 
that  had  been  previously  used ;  the  word  is  preached 
with  more  distinctness  and  dii'ectness — the  people  of 
God  are  more  sensibly  ahve  to  the  interests  of  Christ's 


THE  PARABLE  OF  THE  FIG-TREE.  89 

kingdom,  and  spiritual  things  seem  possessed  of  a 
reality  and  attractiveness. 

Such  are  some  of  the  means  which  "  the  dresser  of 
the  vineyard"  asks  and  obtains  permission  to  emj^loy 
with  the  fruitless  soul.  Yet,  though  these  measures 
he  prompted  by  love,  and  diligently  applied,  there  is, 
you  perceive  by  the  parable,  throughout,  an  explicit 
understanding  between  the  Father  and  the  Son,  that 
they  are  to  terminate  at  an  appointed  time.  If  mercy 
fail,  judgment  is  to  take  its  place.  Nay,  even  he  at 
whose  intercession  sentence  was  deferred,  and  mercy 
continued  and  increased,  pledges  himself  to  execute 
with  his  own  arm  the  Father's  will,  and  to  cut  down 
the  tree. 

Much,  then,  as  grace,  prolonged  and  multiplied,  de- 
serves our  gratitude  and  praise,  is  there  not  a  fearful 
aspect  in  which  it  may  be  viewed  ?  It  is  proved  to 
be  the  precursor  of  judgment  hastening  on.  It  is  that 
axe  of  which  John  the  Baptist  spake,  laid  at  the  root 
of  the  tree,  ready  to  be  taken  up  at  any  moment,  and 
to  cut  down  the  tree  which  bears  no  fruit.  It  is  in 
this  light  that  the  rich  enjoyment  of  the  means  of 
grace  is  viewed  by  aU  who  have  a  spiritual  eye.  But 
Oh !  what  a  different  conclusion  do  the  carnal  reach ! 
"  Because  sentence  against  an  evil  work  is  not  exe- 
cuted speedily,  therefore  the  hearts  of  the  sons  of  men 
are  fully  set  m  them  to  do  evil."  Their  inward  feeling 
is  :  "  To-morrow  shaU  be  as  this  day,  and  more  abun- 
dant." They  base  theu-  conclusions  on  the  past.  Their 
unbeHef  and  impenitence  have  thus  far  not  only  been 
borne  with  through  a  course  of  years ;  but  the  more 
they  neglected  and  despised  the  riches  of  his  grace. 


^0  THE  PARABLE  OF  THE  FIG-TREE. 

the  higher  in  outward  privileges  have  they  been  ex- 
alted. "  Not  knowing  that  the  goodness  of  God  lead- 
eth  them  to  repentance,  they  treasure  up  to  themselves 
wrath  against  the  day  of  w^rath,  and  the  revelation  of 
the  righteous  judgment  of  God."  The  gentle  warnings 
and  gracious  appliances  of  God  are  construed  into 
licenses  for  sin,  until  at  length  destruction  cometh 
upon  them  unawares. 

Well  might  even  the  heathen — as  they  watched  the 
ways  of  Providence,  and  ascribed  its  acts  to  their 
false  gods — say,  "  The  feet  of  the  avenging  deities  are 
shod  with  wool."  Yet,  though  God  finally  meet  his 
enemies  in  the  way,  "  to  rend  the  caul  of  theu"  heart  as 
a  bear  robbed  of  her  whelps,"  still  he  crosses  not  their 
path,  by  bursting  from  a  thicket ;  but  the  suddenness 
and  surprise  are  to  be  ascribed  to  their  being  "  like 
the  deaf  adder  which  stoppeth  her  ears."  It  comes 
upon  them  thus,  "  because,  when  he  called,  they  re- 
fused ;  when  he  stretched  out  his  hand,  they  would 
not  regard;  but  set  at  naught  all  his  comisel,  and 
would  none  of  his  reproof." 

From  the  utmost  limits  of  his  grace,  God  at  once 
proceedeth  to  the  harshest  measures  of  his  justice. 
From  nourishing  his  tree,  "the  dresser  of  the  vine- 
yard" begins  at  once  to  cut  it  down,  and  it  is  gathered 
up  to  be  burned.  Behold,  then,  the  goodness  and 
severity  of  God !  We  are  enabled,  through  our  para- 
ble, to  see  much  within  the  veil.  It  explains  a  great 
deal  of  the  feelings  and  ways  of  God. 

We  learn  here,  first,  the  forbearance  of  God  the  Fa- 
ther. His  ways  are  not  as  our  ways.  He  is  not  easily 
provoked;  therefore  it  is,  we  are  not  at  once  con- 


THE  PARABLE  OF  THE  FIG-TREE.  91 

sumed.  Sometimes,  in  an  act  of  sovereign  justice,  he 
may  require  "  the  dresser  of  his  vineyard"  to  curse  a 
fruitless  tree  at  first  sight;  and  it  may  at  once  be 
withered  at  the  roots.  But  generally,  his  j^roperty  is 
to  have  mercy.  "Lo,  these  three  years  I  come!" 
How  easily  does  he  yield  to  the  suggestion  of  a  longer 
continuance,  and  even  increase  of  his  grace  towards 
the  soul  that  hath  abused  it  all !  Nay,  the  dresser  of 
the  vineyard  petitions  not,  except  according  to  his  will. 
Both  in  his  prayers  in  our  behalf,  as  well  as  in  the 
doctrines  which  he  teacheth  us,  the  Saviour  speaketh 
only  those  words  which  were  given  to  him  by  the 
Father,  in  those  counsels  of  eternity  where  all  before- 
hand was  arranged.  The  vineyard  itself  was  com- 
mitted to  this  dresser's  care,  by  the  Father's  love. 
"  God  so  loved  the  world,  that  he  gave  his  only  be- 
gotten Son."  Oh  !  the  riches  of  the  goodness  and 
forbearance  and  long  suifering  of  God ! 

But,  secondly,  the  imrd  of  God  here  reminds  lis  of 
the  gracious  grounds  of  all  this  forlearance.  It  is  a 
thing  evidently  unmeet  in  itself;  the  Scriptures,  too, 
everywhere  recognize  it  as  improper  for  the  Lord  of 
hosts  to  have  an  unfruitful  vineyard.  Can  anything 
be  more  unfit,  than  that  the  mighty  God,  who  is  good 
and  doeth  good,  should  have  rebelhous  or  negligent 
servants?  How  can  their  toleration  be  consistent 
with  what  God  owes  to  himself?  Yet  it  is  not  in  the 
fkst  year  that  he  is  tempted  to  proceed  to  extremity ; 
but  "  Lo  !  these  three  j^ears  I  come,  seeking  fruit,  and 
find  none."     Why  this  forbearance  ? 

It  is  because,  according  to  our  parable,  he  hath  left 
all  in  the  dresser's  hand.     Oh  !  brethren,  look  for  one 


92  THE  PAEABLE  OF  THE  FIG-TREE. 

moment  at  this  dresser  of  the  vineyard  of  our  God. 
Is  it  allowable  for  God  to  alienate  any  portion  of  his 
creation — to  make  it  thus  over  to  another,  and  to  part 
with  his  glory  ?  Oh !  no.  It  is  because  God's  "  name 
is  in  him,"  that  these  interests  are  committed  to  the 
dresser's  hands. 

But,  then,  how  can  the  Son  endure  w^hat  it  would 
not  be  lawful  for  the  Father  to  permit,  and  aUow  this 
unfruitful  vineyard  to  escape  his  withering  curse — 
nay,  diligently  apply  himself  to  make  it  bear  ?  It  is 
because  he  hath  purchased  it  for  his  own  inheritance ; 
it  is  because  he  hath  offered  the  fruits  of  his  own 
righteousness  instead,  and  is  thus  endued  with  the 
right,  in  accordance  w^ith  the  Father's  love  and  his 
own  grace,  to  dress  the  vineyard,  and  to  see  if  its 
trees  will  not,  under  his  culture,  bring  forth  fruit  to 
God.  Hence  it  is,  that  all  things  are  under  the 
dresser's  charge.  Hence  the  desire  of  the  Son  to 
persevere,  and  the  easy  persuasion  of  the  Father  to 
forbear,  may  be  readily  understood.  The  one  is  grace ; 
the  other  is  love.  Oh !  could  we  by  the  eye  of  faith, 
penetrate  the  heavenly  world,  and  see  those  reahties 
which  our  parable  shadows  forth ;  could  we  behold  our 
glorious  intercessor  at  God's  right  hand,  appreciate 
those  blessings  for  which  he  pleads  in  our  behalf — 
read  the  feehngs  which  prompt  the  Son  to  pray,  and 
the  Father  to  grant  another  year  to  our  probation,  so 
far  unimproved — would  any  heart  be  so  ungrateful 
and  so  suicidal,  as  longer  to  hate  its  own  mercies  and 
to  love  death  ? 

But  thirdly,  our  parable  teaches  that  there  is  hit  one 
of  two  alternatives — eitlier  fruit  must  he  home,  or  the  tree  he 


THE  PARABLE  OF  THE  FIG-TREE.  93 

cut  doivn.  A  pledge  to  this  effect  hath  passed  between 
those — neither  one  jot  or  tittle  of  whose  word  shall 
fail,  though  heaven  and  earth  shall  pass  away.  As 
sure  as  God  is  true,  his  forbearance  towards  every 
barren  tree  hath  an  end,  appointed  between  him  and 
the  Son,  though  unknown  to  us.  As  sure  as  the 
pledge  of  Christ,  he  will  cease  to  be  the  minister  of 
grace,  and  prove  to  be  the  executioner  of  justice  upon 
every  fruitless  soul.  Oh !  in  what  two  different  lights 
does  the  incarnate  Son  of  God  present  himself  in  our 
parable  to  the  soul  which  is  finally  lost!  Dressing 
and  nourishing  the  tree,  and  then  cutting  it  down. 
Bleeding  on  the  cross,  and  inviting  the  wanderer  to 
his  arms — then  cursing  and  bidding  him  "Depart." 
"  Who  shall  be  able  to  stand  ?  who  will  not  seek  to 
hide  himself  from  the  face  of  him  that  sitteth  on  the 
throne,  and  from  the  wrath  of  the  Lamb,  when  the 
great  day  of  his  Avrath  is  come  ?"  Who  among  us  will 
refuse  any  longer  to  bring  forth  fruits  meet  for  repent- 
ance, and  feel  the  axe  of  God's  justice,  as  wielded  by 
the  arm  of  Christ  ? 

But  the  last  lesson  we  derive  from  our  parable  is 
this  :  Unimproved  mercy  often  exhibits  most  life  and 
strength  in  its  exjiiring  moments.  This  is  God's  way  of 
old.  His  ancient  people  were  treated  thus.  Before 
the  Babylonish  captivity,  his  illustrious  prophets, 
Isaiah  and  Jeremiah,  were  sent  to  instruct,  and  warn, 
and  plead.  Before  their  final  overthrow,  the  Son  of 
God  himself,  with  his  immediate  followers,  traversed 
the  land  of  Judea,  and  Avent  in  and  out  among  the 
people,  preaching  the  Gospel  of  the  kingdom,  and  call- 
ing on  Israel  to  repent.     Capernaum  was  thrust  down 


94  THE  PARABLE  OF  THE  FIG-TREE. 

to  hell  from  a  heavenly  exaltation.  The  dresser  of  the 
vineyard  digs  about  the  roots  of  the  fruitless  tree,  and 
enriches  its  soil,  ere  he  cuts  it  down.  This  is  only  what 
e^ery  enlightened  mind  might  expect  from  the  character 
of  God  and  Christ.  Nothing  can  tempt  the  Saviour  to 
desist,  until  he  try  the  power  of  his  Gospel,  unto  its 
uttermost,  to  save.  Ere,  then,  he  give  up  the  w^ander- 
ing  soul  as  lost,  he  will  cause  the  offers  of  his  grace 
frequently  to  cross  its  path.  He  may  produce,  within, 
some  feeling  of  its  great  wants ;  in  the  secret  of  re- 
tirement, and  in  the  closet  of  the  heart,  he  may  make 
the  most  urgent  and  moving  appeals — and  just  when, 
from  these  evidences  of  his  grace,  the  soul  flatters 
itself  it  stands  high  in  his  favor,  that  it  can  regain 
these  helps  at  will,  that  it  can  secure  its  safety  at  any 
future  moment,  and  bids  its  Saviour  "  go  his  way  for 
this  time,  promising  to  call  for  him  at  a  more  conve- 
nient season" — just  then,  he  lifts  his  hand  and  swears, 
''  It  shall  never  enter  into  his  rest."  The  barren  fig- 
tree  withers  away  and  dies,  fit  henceforth  only  to  be 
burned ;  or  else  it  is  forthwith  cut  down  and  cast  into 
the  fire. 

Let  me,  then,  in  conclusion,  call  upon  you,  my  un- 
converted hearers,  to  imiirove  this  lesson,  ivMcli  you 
have  now  learned,  loth  of  the  goodness  and  the  severity  of 
God.  Despair  not,  as  though  you  were  incapable  of 
bearing  fruit ;  because  all  the  culture  which  you  have 
heretofore  received,  has  been  in  vain.  Doubt  not  the 
power  of  the  dresser  of  God's  vineyard  to  subject  you 
to  such  treatment  as  will  cause  the  barren  fig-tree  to 
put  forth,  and  bud,  and  bear  abundant  fruit.  Oh !  he 
can  endue  the  means  which  he  employs  with  a  virtue 


THE  PARABLE  OF  THE  FIG-TREE.  95 

that,  in  your  case,  he  hath  never  done  before.  It  will 
put  new  sap  into  the  roots,  which  will  be  diffused 
throughout,  which  will  give  the  tree  new  character 
and  life,  and  cause  it  to  bear.  He  can  impart  that 
Spirit  who  giveth  life  to  the  letter  of  the  Gospel.  If, 
with  the  engrossing  desire  and  hope  of  this  living  and 
effectual  grace,  you  will  receive  and  use  those  means 
of  knowing  his  wiU  and  seeking  his  favor,  with  which 
you  have  been  all  along  so  abundantly  supphed,  but 
which  you  have  neglected  and  misimproved ;  if  you 
mU  diligently  and  perseveringly  hearken  and  consider, 
and  give  the  Redeemer  no  rest  until  he  quicken  your 
dead  soul — although  these  camiot  merit  salvation,  yet 
he  will  be  acting  differently  from  what  he  ever  did,  if 
he  suffer  you  to  perish.  He  wiU  confer  upon  you  all 
the  blessings  of  that  salvation  which  he  was  at  such 
pains  to  purchase  with  his  righteousness  and  blood. 
There  shall  be  given  you  repentance  unto  salvation, 
which  needeth  not  to  be  repented  of.  Faith  will 
spring  up  in  your  unbelieving  soul.  Works,  meet  for 
repentance  and  signs  of  faith,  will  be  duly  performed. 
When  the  time  agreed  upon  in  your  case,  between 
the  dresser  and  owner  of  the  vineyard,  shall  come, 
you  will  not  be  cut  down.  What  the  tree  has  brought 
forth  will  show,  that  it  is  meet  to  be  transplanted  into 
the  upper  garden  of  the  Lord,  where,  close  by  the 
river  of  God,  it  shall  bear  fruit  unto  life  everlasting. 


SERMON  YII. 


ST.  PAUL  RECONCILED  WITH  ST.  JAMES. 


James  ii.  18. 


"  Show  me  thy  faith  without  thv  works,  and  I  will  show  thee 
Mv  faith  by  my  works." 

These  words,  and  the  whole  tenor  of  our  chapter 
and  epistle,  have  been  supposed  by  many  contradictory 
to  the  teaching  of  St.  Paul,  who  has  been  emphatically 
styled  the  Apostle  of  Grace.  As  no  part  of  Scripture, 
if  all  proceed  from  the  same  infallible  Spirit,  can  be 
subversive  of  another,  the  consequence  has  been,  that 
infidels  of  every  stamp  have  gloried  in  the  apparently 
adverse  doctrines  of  two  penmen  who  possess  equal 
claims  to  inspiration,  and  have  regarded  this  portion 
of  Holy  Writ  as  affording  the  means  of  successfully 
assailing  the  authority  of  God's  entire  word. 

Self-righteous  errorists  have  likewise  looked  upon 
St.  James  as  the  advocate  of  their  proud  hearts ;  and 
in  their  untiring  contests  with  the  humbhng  doctrines 
of  the  Gospel,  by  which  we  are  led  to  trust  for  pardon 
and  acquittal  in  the  alone  righteousness  of  Christ, 
have  uniformly  resorted  to  the  epistle  before  us,  as 
their  stronghold.  The  effect  has  been,  that  the  un- 
humbled  hearts  of  carnal  hearers  have  been  bolstered 
up  in  their  attempts  to  seek  justification,  either  exclu- 
7 


98  ST.  PAUL  RECONCILED  WITH  ST.  JAMES. 

sively  by  the  works  of  the  law,  or  else  by  the  impossi- 
ble admixture  of  Christ's  merits  and  man's  deservings. 
The  spiritually  unwary,  too,  in  the  midst  of  difficul- 
ties, which  they  could  not,  without  an  unpardonable 
wresting  of  God's  word,  remove — have  either  felt 
themselves  perplexed,  not  knowing  whither  to  look  for 
satisfaction  on  the  most  important  of  all  points,  or,  if 
convinced  of  what  is  true  and  needful  in  their  own 
case,  have  yet  been  beguiled,  in  view  of  the  apparent 
sanction  which  legaUsts  derived  from  this  portion  of 
God's  word,  to  countenance  their  soul-destroying 
errors. 

Every  preacher  of  the  Gospel,  rightly  instructed 
in  the  nature  of  the  truth,  and  in  the  state  of  the 
visible  church,  has  felt  and  deplored  the  force  of  these 
things.  The  great  Saxon  Reformer,  at  one  time,  was 
tempted  to  deny  the  apostohc  origin  and  divme  au- 
thority of  our  entu'e  epistle,  lest  his  favorite,  and, 
indeed,  the  cardinal  doctrine  of  the  Gospel  should  be 
overthrown  thereby ;  although,  as  is  well  known,  he 
afterwards  saw  and  admired  the  beautiful  consistency 
of  Paul  and  James,  and  labored  W'ith  unprecedented 
power  and  success  to  further  their  blended  views  in 
the  gracious  justification  of  the  beUever  and  his  duty 
to  seek  for  freedom  from  all  sin. 

We  feel  authorized,  too,  in  saying,  that  no  well-in- 
formed Christian  of  our  own  day,  who  is  sensibly 
alive  to  the  worth  of  souls,  and  to  the  power  of  the 
delusions  which  prevail,  can  hear  our  chapter  read 
before  a  promiscuous  assembly  in  the  house  of  God, 
without  fearful  apprehension  lest  its  wholesome  teach- 
ings be  perverted  to  the  self-destruction  of  those  for 


ST.  PAUL  RECONCILED  WITH  ST.  .JAMES.  99 

whom  Christ  died.  The  necessity  of  ca  clear  under- 
standing of  the  method  by  Avhich  the  Apostles  are  to  be 
reconciled,  and  of  obviating  evils  of  the  great  magni- 
tude by  which  we  have  characterized  them,  at  once 
appears. 

We  therefore  invite  your  attention  to  a  very  brief 
explanation  of  the  easy  and  proper  mode  of  showing 
the  agreement  between  Paul  and  James,  and  to  the 
duties  which  devolve  on  us  therefrom. 

At  the  outset,  then,  Ave  say,  it  cannot  be  doubted 
by  any  ingenuous  reader  of  St.  Paul,  that  he  taught 
the  truth  of  the  justification  of  every  human  sinner 
before  the  bar  of  God,  by  the  exclusive  righteousness 
of  Christ;  and  that,  possessed  by  the  Holy  Ghost, 
and  jealous  for  the  honors  of  the  Redeemer,  he  labored 
to  prove  the  uselessness  of  man's  merits  and  works  as 
a  ground  of  acceptance  with  the  holy  God,  and  to 
show  that  salvation  proceeds  from  free  grace. 

Although  this  theme,  however,  is  the  acknowledged 
burden  of  this  apostle's  pen,  yet  in  no  other  part  of 
Holy  Writ  can  be  found  more  spiritual  and  exalted 
views  of  the  purity  of  the  Christian's  calling,  and  of 
the  nature  of  those  graces  by  which  the  believer  is 
characterized.  In  the  two  epistles  to  the  Roman  and 
Galatian  churches — written  with  special  reference  to 
the  maintenance  of  free  grace — will  be  found  passages 
descriptive  of  the  disciple's  state,  which  are  unsur- 
passed elsewhere,  and  which  have  caused  the  holiest 
of  the  sons  of  men  to  shrink  from  a  comparison  be- 
tween their  attainments  and  their  duties.  As  examples 
of  these,  instance  the  12th  chapter  of  Romans,  styled 
a  body  of  Practical  Divinity,  and  the  5th  of  Galatians,  in 


100  ST.  PAUL  RECONCILED  WITH  ST.  JAMES. 

wMch  the  fruit  of  the  Spirit  is  delineated.  Need  we  re- 
mind you  of  that  inimitable  loth  chapter  of  1  Corinthi- 
ans, in  which  the  grace  of  charity  is  so  fully  and  glow- 
ingly described  ?  Who  that  will  examine  himself  in  this 
mirror,  does  not  not  hide  himself  with  shame  and  con- 
fusion of  face  ?  Other  well-known  extracts  from  the 
writings  of  St.  Paul  might  be  adduced,  to  establish 
his  claims  to  stand  in  the  van  of  even  inspired  writers 
in  the  war  which  is  waged  by  God's  people  against  the 
hosts  of  sin. 

But,  in  pursuing  such  a  course,  speaker  and  hearer 
would  impose  on  themselves  a  needless  task.  The 
whole  spirit  of  this  blessed  apostle's  works  is  fragrant 
with  pm-ity.  Its  feelings  and  aims  are  sanctified  be- 
yond the  conception,  much  more  beyond  the  descrip- 
tion of  an  uninspired  man.  But  we  are  not  left  to 
inference  in  exculpating  our  apostle  from  the  charge 
which  foolish  and  unevangeUzed  men  would  bring 
against  his  character;  as  though  in  his  views  licentious- 
ness were  winked  at,  and  the  sin  of  the  believer  es- 
teemed lightly  :  for  this  special  perversion  of  his 
doctrine  was  several  times  brought  before  his  own 
mind,  and  with  what  solemnity  did  he  renounce  it,  or 
else  with  what  depth  of  feeling  did  he  condemn  it. 

After  having  proved  the  gracious  economy  under 
which  the  behever  lived,  he  proposes  the  question  which 
a  carnal  mind,  still  in  love  with  sin,  and  looking  out  for 
a  cloak  of  its  maliciousness,  would  no  doubt  ask : 
"  ShaU  we  sin  because  we  are  not  under  the  law,  but 
under  grace  ?"  to  which  he  rephes,  "  God  forbid."  In 
the  beginning  of  the  same  chapter,  the  6th  of  Romans, 
after  having  (in  the  conclusion  of  the  preceding  one) 


ST.  PAUL  RECONCILED  WITH  ST.  JAMES.  101 

grapliically  described  "grace"  as  reigning  by  Jesus 
Christ  our  Lord,  lie  asks  :  "  Shall  we  continue  in  sin, 
that  grace  may  abound  ?"  To  which  he  gives  the  same 
solemn  answer  as  before,  "  God  forbid."  In  the  8th 
verse  of  the  3d  chapter,  after  having  admitted  that 
God  is  more  glorified  by  the  pardon  which  he  bestows 
on  the  sinner,  than  if  sin  had  never  been  permitted 
to  enter  the  universe,  he  alludes  to  a  slanderous 
report  of  his  doctrine,  which  had  been  circulated  by 
some  mischievous  persons,  as  though  he  had  enforced 
the  duty  of  doing  evil  that  good  might  come,  when, 
with  thorough  indignation,  he  pronounces  as  just,  the 
damnation  of  those  who  would  be  guilty  of  acting  in 
this  way,  or  of  attributing  such  hellish  effects  to 
Gospel  truth. 

Such,  then,  was  the  necessity  for  holiness  in  the 
views  of  St.  Paul,  and  such  the  strong  language  which 
he  employed  to  enforce  its  obhgation.  But,  notwith- 
standing these  guards  again&t  the  perversion  of  Gospel 
truth,  it  is  quite  evident,  from  the  most  cursory 
perusal  of  the  different  epistles,  that  there  arose,  even 
in  apostoHc  days,  men  who  had  notoriously  turned  the 
grace  of  our  God  into  lasciviousness,  and  who  regarded 
the  liberty  to  which  they  had  been  called,  as  the  right 
to  follow  with  impunity  the  biddings  of  their  lusts. 
These  professed  to  have  a  species  of  faith,  which 
woidd  shield  them  from  the  wrath  of  God,  and  yet 
allow  them  habitually,  and  without  holy  resistance  to 
temptation  and  repentance  for  sin,  to  violate  the  com- 
mands of  God. 

It  was  evidently  in  reference  to  such  characters, 
degrading  the  name  and  reputation  of  Christ  and  his 


102  ST.  PAUL  RECONCILED  WITH  ST.  JAMES. 

Gospel  in  the  eyes  of  men,  that  St.  James  was  in- 
sph'ecl  to  write  the  epistle  before  us.    The  first  portion 
of  our  chapter  amply  suffices  to  prove,  that  they  whom 
he  addressed  were  entirely  carnal  in  their  walk  and 
conversation ;  that  they  were  not  of  those  whom  St. 
Paul  himself  describes  as  walking  not  after  the  flesh, 
but  after  the  Spirit,  and  as  walking  by  faith,  not  by 
sight.  They  were  the  most  shameless  regarders  of  men, 
respecting  not  characters,  but  persons,  and  thus  proving 
that  they  had  none  of  the  same  mind  in  them  which 
was  in  Christ;  who  was  characterized,   even  by  his 
enemies,  as  one  Avho  regarded  not  the  persons  of  men. 
Against  this  pretended  association  of  faith  in  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  with  respect  of  persons,  our  apostle 
warns  them  in  the  opening  verse  of  the  chapter,  and 
proceeds  to  illustrate  how  incompatible  true  Christian 
principle  was  with  that  conduct  to  which  such  a  man- 
fearing  state  of  mind  would  lead ;  by  supposing  the 
case  of  a  rich  worldling  and  a  poor  believer  in  one  of 
their  worshipping  assemblies — ^the  former  seated  in  a 
comfortable  and  conspicuous  place,  while  the  latter 
was  contemptuously  bidden  to  sit  under  a  fellow-pro- 
fessor's footstool.     Such  treatment  of  a  brother  for 
whom  Christ  died,  the  apostle  pronounces  a  counte- 
nancing of  those  who  blaspheme  the  name  of  that 
Redeemer,  by  which  wealthy  and  indigent  disciples 
were  in  common  called — and  a  transgression  of  that 
supreme  law  of  God,  by  which  we  were  enjoined  to 
love  our  neighbors  as  ourselves. 

Nor  would  the  apostle  allow  his  readers  to  draw 
any  distinction  between  the  different  commandments 
of  God — since  all  proceeded  from  the  same   divine 


ST.  PAUL  RECONCILED  WITH  ST.  JAMES.  103 

source,  and  each  was  clothed  with  the  self-same  au- 
thority: He  that  said,  Do  not  commit  adultery, 
having  also  said,  Do  not  kill.  So  that,  though  a  man 
had  committed  no  adultery,  yet  if  he  killed,  he  had 
become  a  transgressor  of  the  law.  They  therefore 
should  not  esteem  the  standard  which  he  had  set  up 
as  sublimated  and  utopian;  for  though  they  kept  the 
whole  law — offending  only  in  one  point,  and  that  the 
ai^parently  small  one  of  respect  to  persons,  they  were 
involved  in  universal  guilt,  and  were  convinced  of  the 
law  as  transgressors,  to  be  dealt  with  accordingly. 
If  they  expected  to  be  judged  by  the  law  of  liberty — 
if  they  based  their  own  hopes  of  salvation  on  God's 
not  being  rigorously  bound  down  by  justice  to  deal 
with  them  according  to  their  own  deserts,  but  freely 
justifying  them  according  to  the  liberty  of  his  own 
will — if  they  had  tasted  in  their  own  case  the  pre- 
ciousness  of  such  unmixed  mercy, — ^they  were  so  to 
speak  and  do,  as  to  exhibit  the  same  mercy  towards 
others  which  they  expected  for  their  own  souls.  For 
they  might  rest  assured,  that  with  what  measure  they 
meeted  to  others,  the  same  should  be  meeted  to  them; 
and  that  he  who  showed  no  mercy,  would  in  his  own 
case,  have  judgment  without  mercy.  All  this  teach- 
ing of  St.  James  was  in  perfect  accordance  with  that 
injunction  of  St.  Paul — "use  not  hberty  for  an  occasion 
to  the  flesh,  but  by  love  serve  one  another."  It  was 
in  strict  consistence  with  the  example  of  David,  who, 
in  the  119th  Psalm,  45th  verse,  teUs  us — he  allowed 
himself  to  "walk  at  liberty,  only  when  he  sought 
God's  jDrecepts." 

Our  apostle  now  proceeds  to  draw  a  distinction 


104      ST.  PAUL  RECONCILED  WITH  ST.  JAMES. 

between  a  dead  and  a  living  faith — between  that  bare 
intellectual  assent  to  the  truths  of  the  Gospel  scheme, 
and  that  heartfelt  reception  of  its  gracious  offers — 
that  closing  with  its  provisions,  which  fills  and  sways 
the  affections  of  the  entire  man,  and  regulates  his 
conduct.  And,  by  way  of  illustrating  the  difference 
between  a  dead  or  merely  head-faith  in  the  redemption 
that  is  in  Christ,  and  the  hearty  appropriation  of  it  to 
ourselves,  he  shows  the  emptiness  and  hypocrisy  of  a 
pretension  to  the  grace  of  charity,  while  a  hungry  or 
naked  Christian  brother  or  sister  is,  with  a  kind  tone, 
but  real  mockery,  bidden  to  depart  in  peace,  unfed 
and  unclothed.  "Even  so,"  saith  the  apostle,  "faith, 
if  it  hath  not  works,  is  dead,  being  alone." 

Now,  brethren,  what  does  all  this  prove.  Simply 
that  there  is  a  spurious,  as  well  as  a  true  faith — that 
a  justifying  and  saving  faith  is  an  operative  principle 
in  the  Christian's  soul — influencing  his  thoughts,  and 
words,  and  acts.  But  St.  James  still  supposes,  that 
a  man,  even  when  thus  driven  from  his  refuge  of  lies, 
may  endeavor  to  shield  himself  by  afiirming,  that  he 
has  faith,  while  another  has  works.  In  answer  to 
this  suggestion,  he  exclaims  in  the  words  of  our  text : 
"  Show  me  thy  faith  without  thy  works ;  and  I  will 
show  thee  my  faith  by  my  works."  If  you  would 
have  me  or  any  of  your  fellow-men — who  are  no 
discerners  of  spirits,  who  can  judge  of  the  tree  only 
by  its  fruits,  who  can  ascertain  the  spuitual  condition 
of  a  man  only  by  outward  things — if  you  would  have 
us  beUeve  your  claims  as  a  child  of  light  to  be  genuine, 
walk  as  a  child  of  the  light — if  you  profess  to  live  in 
the  Spirit,  and  would  have  us  give  you  credit  therefor, 


ST.  PAUL  RECONCILED  WITH  ST.  JAMES.  105 

walk  in  the  Spirit.  For  our  rule  is,  that  ^'as  the  body 
of  a  man  without  the  spirit  of  man  is  dead,  so  faith 
without  works  is  dead  also;"  and  we  make  no  excep- 
tion either  in  your  case,  or  in  that  of  any  other  person. 
Do  you  still  plead  that  you  believe, — but  in  this  you 
surpass  not  the  devils,  for  they  also  believe — nay,  they 
are  better  than  you,  for  their  behef  leads  them  to 
tremble  when  they  disobey ;  but  you  trample  on  God's 
authority  without  fear.  Shelter  not  yourself  either 
behind  the  holy  men  of  old.  For  in  what  way  was 
even  our  Father  Abraham  proved  to  be  justified?  In 
condescension  to  our  weakness,  how  did  the  Omniscient 
one  himself,  who  knows  what  is  in  man,  and  needeth 
not  that  any  one  should  tell  him,  deign  to  express 
himself  on  Mount  Moriah — was  it  not,  "Now  I  know 
that  thou  fearest  God,  seeing  thou  hast  not  withheld 
thy  son,  thine  only  son  from  me."  So  that  even 
Abraham  shows  us  that  he  was  justified  in  God's 
sight — proves  it  to  his  own  satisfaction  and  that  of  all 
his  fellow-creatures,  "by  offering  up  Isaac  his  son 
upon  the  altar." 

Abraham's  faith  was  made  perfect,  reached  the 
pinnacle  of  the  assm^ance  of  hope  by  this  self-sacri- 
ficing work;  and  thus  the  Scripture  was  fulfilled,  to 
the  satisfaction  of  all  men,  that  there  was  a  faith  in 
him,  to  which  righteousness  was  imputed.  Rahab. 
too,  proved  to  herself,  proved  to  Joshua's  messengers, 
and  when  it  afterwards  came  to  be  known,  proved  to 
all  men,  that  she  was  a  justified  believer,  that  she 
really  had  faith  in  God,  when  at  the  risk  of  her  own 
life,  she  hid  the  spies,  and  sent  them  aAvay  in  peace. 

Brethren,  we  trust  it  now  clearly  appears  to  have 


106  ST.  PAUL  RECONCILED  WITH  ST.  JAMES. 

been  the  object  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  that  great  glorifier 
of  Jesus,  not  through  St.  James,  whom  he  inspn^ecl, 
to  exalt  man  to  the  position  of  his  own  Redeemer,  or 
to  share  the  honors  of  his  own  salvation  with  the  Son 
of  God,  by  mingling  man's  Avorks  with  Christ's  righte- 
ousness, as  the  ground  of  the  believer's  justification 
before  the  bar  of  the  Holy  One  of  Israel;  but  simply 
to  vindicate  in  the  eyes  of  men  the  character  of  that 
faith  which  saves,  by  showing  how  operative  and  in- 
fluential it  always  is  in  moulding  the  entire  life.  He, 
to  whose  eye  all  things  are  open  and  naked,  requires 
not  any  outward  proof  of  what  is  in  the  heart  of  man. 
God  needeth  not  even  to  ascertain  whether  the  feelings 
of  lo^e — the  first  and  most  immediate  and  spiritual 
effect  of  faith,  pervade  and  characterize  the  soul — for 
he  knoweth  all  things,  and  must  evidently  be  aware 
of  the  existence  of  that  faith  in  our  hearts  of  wdiich, 
if  it  be  there,  he  is  himself  the  author.  So  that 
inwardly  felt  and  outwardly  visible  streams  of  the 
fountain  of  faith  are  not  needed,  answer,  indeed,  no 
end,  in  truth  and  before  God  in  wasliing  away  our 
guilt. 

But,  then,  there  are  other  important  pm'poses  which 
these  do  effect.  Our  inwardly  holy  and  loving  feelings 
refresh  our  own  souls,  by  assuring  us  that  we  are  born 
of  God — that  we  are  created  again  in  the  image  of 
God,  which  is  righteousness  and  true  hoHness  and  love 
— that  we  have  received  Christ,  and  have  had  power 
given  us  to  become  the  sons  of  God.  And  as  our 
emotions  of  love  towards  God  and  man,  prove  to  our- 
selves that  our  calling  and  election  are  sure — so  the 
expression  of  our  sentiments,  and  the  exhibition  of 
our  feelings  in  our  daily  walk — make  us  living  epistles 


ST.  PAUL  RECONCILED  WITH  ST.  JAMES.  107 

known  and  read  of  all  men;  and  put  to  silence  by 
well-doing,  the  ignorance  of  foolish  men,  who  would 
speak  against  the  self-emptied  disciples  of  Christ  as 
evil-doers. 

You  see,  then,  brethren,  that  while  St.  James, 
rightly  understood,  detracts  not  in  the  least  from  the 
exclusive  merits  of  Christ's  righteousness  in  gaining 
us  acceptance  with  God,  nor  from  the  sole  instrumen- 
tahty  of  faith  in  interesting  us  therein — yet,  jealous 
for  the  reputation  of  Gospel  doctrine  in  this  perverse 
world,  he  insists  upon  the  necessity  of  all  exemphfying 
the  efficacy  of  their  faith  who  claim  to  be  possessors 
thereof — that  aware,  too,  of  our  proneness  to  self- 
deception  through  the  blindness  of  our  self-love,  he 
would  drive  us  from  all  dependence  in  our  inmost 
souls  upon  a  pretended  faith  which  evinces  not  its 
presence  and  power  in  our  feelings  and  our  lives. 
The  truths  and  duties  which  flow  from  this  exposition 
of  our  text  are  numerous  and  momentous.  We  have 
time  only  to  advert  to  a  few  of  them  before  we  close. 

Fellow-professors  of  the  faith  that  is  in  Christ,  have 
you  been  sanctified  thereby  in  your  feelings  and  hves  ? 
As  you  would  avoid  giving  occasion  to  the  enemies  of 
the  Lord  to  blaspheme,  seek  to  exhibit  the  purifjdng 
effects  of  Gospel  belief  in  your  daily  walk ;  for  carnal 
men  who  Avalk  by  sight,  place  rehance  only  on  what 
is  outward. 

I  beseech  you  seek  sanctification : 

1.  As  you  love  the  pure  Gospel. 

2.  As  you  love  the  name  of  Christ. 

i).  As  you  aspire  after  perfect  assurance. 

4.  As  you  prize  unclouded  communion  with  God. 


SEEMON  YIII. 


GOD'S   USE   OF  EVIL   SPIRITS. 


1  Kings  xxii.  22, 


"And  he  said,  thou  six  alt  persiade  him,  and  prevail  also:  go 
forth,  and  do  so." 

Such  is  the  fearful  mission  upon  which  God  is  rep- 
resented as  having  sent  the  evil  spirit,  who  offered  to 
seduce  a  wicked  king  of  Israel  to  pursue  a  wTong  and 
fatal  course. 

There  are  two  criminal  and  hurtful  ways  of  treating 
a  passage  of  this  kind  in  God's  word.  On  the  one 
hand,  we  may  undertake  its  consideration  with  a  self- 
sufficient  mind,  and  for  the  sake  of  showing  the  extent 
of  our  literary  or  spiritual  acquirements :  on  the  other, 
we  may,  under  the  pretext  of  humility,  but  really 
'  because  we  are  unprepared  to  admit  those  essential 
truths  upon  which  the  justice  and  wisdom  of  such 
agency  in  God's  government  are  based,  refuse  any 
attention  to  what  has  been  graciously  revealed  for  our 
learning.  May  we  be  preserved  from  either  of  these 
kinds  of  disrespect  to  our  divine  Teacher!  and  may 
the  present  speaker  and  hearers  so  deal  with  the 
words  in  the  text,  that  they  shall  prove  instructive 
and  edifying  to  souls,  and  contribute  to  the  glory  of 
Him  who  uttered  them ! 


110  god's  use  of  evil  spirits. 

Tlic  passage  before  us  forms  part  of  the  prophet 
Mieaiah's  vision,  as  he  stood  before  Ahab.  This  self- 
willed  king  had  fully  determined  in  his  own  mind  to 
prosecute  at  all  hazards  his  Avar  against  Syria,  and 
hoped  to  avail  himself  of  the  aid  of  the  pious  sovereign 
of  Judah,  who  was  then  on  a  visit  to  his  court.  Ac- 
cordingly, at  the  suggestion  of  Jehoshaphat,  who  had 
been  asked  to  accompany  the  expedition,  the  priests 
of  Baal  were  assembled,  ere  they  set  out,  to  inquire 
tlie  will  of  the  Lord.  These  hirehngs  with  one  voice 
favored  the  wishes  of  their  royal  employer,  and  urged 
him  to  proceed,  promising  him  certain  and  unbounded 
success.  Not  content,  however,  with  their  encourage- 
ment, Jehoshaphat  insisted  upon  the  summons  of  some 
prophet  of  the  Lord;  and  Ahab,  therefore,  sent  for 
Micaiah,  whom  yet  he  denounced  as  one  who  never 
projjhesied  good,  but  only  evil,  concerning  him. 

During  the  absence  of  the  messenger,  the  company 
were  entertained  by  a  species  of  buffoonery  on  the 
part  of  one  of  the  priests,  who  seems  to  have  put 
horns  of  iron  on  his  head,  as  an  emblem  of  the  vigor 
and  strength  with  which  Ahab  would  pursue  and 
overthrow  the  Syrians. 

Urged  by  the  king's  servant  to  join  the  other  prophets 
in  predicting  what  would  be  agreeable,  but  yet  protest- 
ing that  he  would  speak  only  what  the  Lord  should  say, 
the  faithful  man  of  God  was  ushered  into  the  royal 
presence.  Being  asked  by  the  king:  "Micaiah,  shall 
we  go  against  Bamoth-Gilead  to  battle?  or  shall  we 
forbear?"  he  answered  him,  "Go,  and  prosper;  for  the 
Lord  shall  deliver  it  into  the  hand  of  the  king." 

There  was,  however,  an   air   of  irony  about   his 


god's  use  of  evil  spirits.  Ill 

manner,  as  he  repeated  what  the  Mse  prophets  had 
previously  said,  which  boded  the  king  no  good ;  and 
Ahab,  therefore,  said  unto  him,  "How  many  times 
shall  I  adjure  thee  that  thou  tell  me  nothing  but  that 
which  is  true  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  ?"  In  reply  to 
this  solemn  appeal,  the  prophet  then  faithfully  foretold 
the  fiilure  of  the  enterprise,  and  the  utter  dispersion 
of  the  troop :  and  then,  to  still  the  upbraidings  of  the 
king,  he  rehearsed  the  vision  in  which  our  text  is 
found.  "I  saw,"  said  the  prophet,  "the  Lord  sitting 
on  his  throne,  and  aU  the  host  of  heaven  standing  by 
him  on  his  right  hand  and  on  his  left.  And  the  Lord 
said,  Who  shall  persuade  Ahab,  that  he  may  go  up 
and  faU  at  Ramoth-Gilead  ?  And  one  said  on  this 
manner,  and  another  said  on  that  manner.  And  there 
came  forth  a  spirit,  and  stood  before  the  Lord,  and 
said,  I  will  persuade  him.  And  the  Lord  said  unto 
him,  wherewith?  And  he  said,  I  will  go  forth,  and  I 
wdll  be  a  lying  spirit  in  the  mouth  of  all  his  prophets. 
And  he  said,  thou  shalt  persuade  him,  and  prevail  also : 
go  forth,  and  do  so." 

Such,  then,  is  the  record,  and  such  were  the  circum- 
stances of  this  remarkable  vision;  the  truthfulness  of 
which  was  fuUy  proved  by  the  event.  Before  we 
attempt  to  justify  the  instrmneutality  here  employed 
by  God,  it  becomes  us  to  inquire.  In  ivhat  light  the 
vision  itself  is  to  he  understood? 

Not,  then,  we  maintain,  as  a  view  with  which  the 
prophet  was  favored  of  actual  occurrences  in  the 
spiritual  world.  God  does  not  thus  sit  upon  a  ma- 
terial throne.  Neither  do  the  holy  and  the  fallen 
angels  thus  mingle  together  in  his  presence.      Nor 


112  god's  use  of  evil  spirits. 

does  he  admit  into  his  counsel  either  good  or  bad 
creatures;  for  he  giveth  account  of  his  matters  unto 
no  one.  We  are  not,  then,  to  consider  Micaiah  as 
witnessing  a  real  transaction;  but  as  favored,  in  vision, 
with  a  faithful  and  striking  representation  of  the  in- 
visible means  which  had  been  employed  to  confirm 
Ahab  in  his  present  determination.  It  is  the  prophet's 
description  of  this  emblematic  vision  which  is  recorded 
on  the  sacred  page,  and  which  you  have  just  heard 
repeated.  From  it,  we  gather  the  unlimited  sove- 
reignty of  God  over  aU  the  evil  that  is  in  the  world. 
Wicked  Ahab  and  his  false  prophets,  known  to  be 
worshippers  of  another  god,  are  invisibly  and  mysteri- 
ously led  into  the  belief  of  a  lie,  and  into  the  adoption 
of  a  fatal  resolve.  Over  this  whole  transaction,  God 
is  represented  as  wonderfully  presiding;  sitting  upon 
a  throne;  forming  a  sovereign  purpose,  that  thus  it 
should  be,  and  then  successfully  bringing  it  to  pass. 

The  different  wishes,  which  the  good  and  bad  angels 
had  secretly  formed  in  their  own  breasts,  in  relation 
to  what  they  were  witnessing  in  the  court  of  Israel, 
are  described  as  so  many  plans  which  they  had  pro- 
posed to  the  King  of  heaven,  in  a  council  to  which 
they  had  been  called.  God's  choice,  among  them,  of 
the  device  of  an  evil  spirit  to  seduce  Ahab,  through 
his  false  prophets,  by  the  confidence  and  ingenuity 
with  which  it  deshed  to  inspire  them  in  their  un- 
founded predictions,  is  represented  as  his  acceptance 
of  a  proposition  actually  made  by  this  individual  in 
the  host  that  stood  around.  While  the  secret  resolve 
which  God  formed  to  give  effect  to  the  aims  and  efforts 
of  this  lying  spirit,  is  spoken  of,  in  the  vision,  as  the 


god's  use  of  evil  spirits.  113 

enduing  it  with  a  divine  commission,  and  the  encour- 
aging it  with  the  promise  of  success. 

We  thus  see  Avhat  an  innumerable  host  of  agencies 
God  has  at  his  disposal.  All  the  thoughts  and  pur- 
poses of  his  holy  and  fallen  angels  are  open  to  his 
inspection.  Such  of  them  as  he  disapproves  he  has 
the  power  of  preventing  and  destroying  in  their  very 
inception;  while  those  which  fall  in  with  his  own 
gracious  or  just  plans,  he  permits,  if  he  do  not  posi- 
tively further.  These  are  indeed  momentous  truths 
which  are  so  strikingly  revealed  through  this  figure; 
and  the  reflections  to  which  they  lead  are  scarcel}'' 
second  in  importance  and  difficulty  to  any  that  can  be 
suggested. 

What  comfort  should  it  administer  to  the  devout 
mind,  too  ready  to  be  depressed  with  the  apparent 
upper  hand  which  the  wicked  have  in  the  world ;  with 
what  terror  should  it  inspire  the  heaven-daring,  walk- 
ing by  sight  and  puffed  up  with  the  conceit  that  they 
have  the  pre-eminence,  to  know  that  the  reins  of  evil 
are  in  God's  hand ;  that  he  hath  a  bridle  in  the  jaws 
of  sinners  causing  them  to  err;  that  he  maketh  the 
wrath  of  man  to  praise  liim,  and  the  remainder  of 
wrath  he  doth  restrain! 

But  while  views  hke  these  are  thus  well-calculated 
to  encourage  God's  friends  and  to  dishearten  his  foes, 
it  is  yet  a  question  which  may  be  humbly  asked,  and 
we  think  to  a  disciple's  mind  satisfactorily  answered, 
Hoiv  is  the  use  of  such  instrumentality  consistent  luith 
ivhat  is  declared  of  God  in  other  parts  of  his  holy  wordi 

It  is  from  no  sympathy  with  that  self-sufficient 
spirit,  which  rises  up  ui  opposition  to  every  truth  that 
8 


114  god's  use  of  evil  spirits. 

shows  how  completely  our  fallen  race  is  in  the  just 
hands  of  Him  against  whom  it  has  rebelled,  and  which 
is  natural  to  every  child  of  Adam,  that  we  attempt  to 
answer  the  question  here  j)roposed.  For  such  a  spirit 
can  never  be  enlightened  or  subdued.  It  should  meet 
only  wdth  St.  Paul's  withering  rebuke:  "Who  art 
thou,  0  man,  that  repliest  against  God?  Shall  the 
thing  formed  say  to  him  that  formed  it.  Why  hast 
thou  made  me  thus  ?"  What  we  now  design  is  not  to 
reason  with  such  blasphemers;  but  to  endeavor  to 
instruct  the  lowly  inquirer,  who,  on  reading  such  a 
passage  in  the  sacred  Scriptures  as  our  text,  is  per- 
plexed, and  sees  not  how  it  can  be  explained  in  con- 
sistence with  other  obvious  truths;  who  is  unable  to 
silence  the  skeptic,  w^hen  he  urges  as  an  argument 
against  the  divine  authority  and  origin  of  revelatioUj 
the  fact  that  it  contains  statements  of  this  kind,  which 
are  contrary  to  even  natural  notions  of  God's  benevo- 
lence, and  contradictory  to  other  doctrines  on  the 
professedly  sacred  page  itself;  who,  above  all,  is 
disturbed  when,  in  his  own  experience  or  observation, 
he  perceives  anything  resembhng  the  use  of  such  in- 
strumentality as  is  here  unfolded,  on  the  part  of  God, 
and  prayerfully  seeks  to  know  how  facts  like  these 
are  reconcilable  with  the  holiness  of  God,  with  human 
responsibiUty,  or  with  the  inspired  declaration : 
"Neither  tempteth  He  any  man." 

Now,  it  should  serve  to  reconcile  the  mind  of  such 
a  disciple  to  the  divine  proceeding  in  the  text,  if  he  be 
led  by  the  Holy  Spirit  to  contemplate  the  scene  of  the 
first  temptation  and  fall,  which  is  so  accurately  de- 
picted on  the  sacred  page.     That  Adam  and  Eve, 


god's  use  of  evil  spirits.  115 

under  circumstances  wliicli  called  for  lasting  obedience 
and  gratitude,  yielded  to  the  seductions  of  a  lying 
spirit,  and  joined  him  in  rebellion  against  God,  is  a 
fact  which  every  child  in  Christendom  knows.  That 
it  would  have  been  only  a  righteous  dispensation,  if 
God  had  for  ever  given  over  these  two  human  ingrates 
to  the  fellowship  and  guidance  of  him  whom  they  had 
thus  chosen  to  follow,  is  a  position  which  no  scriptu- 
rally-minded  man  will  be  disposed  to  dispute.  More- 
over, that  our  first  parents,  in  the  transactions  of  the 
garden,  were  the  representatives  of  the  entire  human 
nature,  of  all  their  posterity,  is  a  fundamental  fact, 
with  which  every  Christian  is  well  versed.  That 
every  child  of  Adam  is  born  with  the  same  character, 
and  in  the  same  relationship  towards  God,  which  the 
first  parents  of  our  race  maintained  after  their  fall,  is 
what  the  Scriptures  teach  on  every  page,  and  what 
the  enlightened  believer  has  been  brought  to  receive 
in  all  its  length  and  breadth. 

See  you  not,  therefore,  that  it  would  be  a  just  thing 
in  God  to  dehver  up  every  partaker  of  the  fallen  human 
nature  to  the  seductions  of  the  tempter  ?  It  would 
not  in  the  least  have  impeached  his  holiness  or  justice, 
if  God  had  judicially  sentenced  Adam  and  his  pos- 
terity to  all  the  fatal  consequences  of  that  league 
which  they  had  formed  with  the  deceiver.  Though 
it  would  have  been  deplorable  to  have  witnessed  the 
deceived,  as  they  partook,  throughout  eternity,  of  the 
sins  and  woes  of  the  destroyer,  yet  the  saints  in  light 
would  have  exculpated  God,  and  have  cried,  "Just 
and  holy  are  thy  ways,  0  Lord  God  Almighty !"  and 


116  god's  use  of  evil  spirits. 

God  would  oiilj  have  acted  in  consistence  with  his 
own  perfections. 

Now,  without  any  reference  at  this  point  to  the 
provisions  of  Gospel  grace,  we  would  inquire  what,  as  the 
Scriptures  unfold  it,  is  the  actual  state  of  every  natural 
child  of  Adam,  when  he  is  born  into  the  world  ?  Does 
not  the  word  of  God  summarily  describe  unconverted 
men  as  "  children  of  the  wicked  one,"  and  as  "  of  their 
father,  the  devil  ?"  Is  not  "  the  course  of  this  world" 
declared  by  the  Holy  Ghost  to  be  "  according  to  the 
prince  of  the  power  of  the  an,"  who  is  himself  further 
characterized  as  "  the  spirit  that  worketh  in  the  chil- 
dren of  disobedience  ?" 

So  we  see,  that  under  the  law,  and  in  a  state  of 
nature,  it  is  not  one  man  here  and  there,  who,  hke 
Ahab,  is  brought  under  the  seductions  of  a  lying 
spuit;  but  all  men,  everywhere,  Avho,  as  the  Scriptures 
express  it,  are  under  "the  power  of  darkness,"  and 
under  "  the  power  of  Satan."  Every  unrenewed  man 
is  described  by  St.  Paul  as  one  "  whose  mind  the  God 
of  this  world  hath  bhnded ;"  he  is  as  effectually  led, 
notwithstanding  the  light  of  the  Gospel,  in  utter  unbe- 
hef,  through  his  earthly  pilgrimage,  into  perdition,  as 
if  the  eyes  of  his  understanding  were  Hterally  ban- 
daged by  Satan.  Nor  can  any  theoretical  or  practical 
unbeliever  be  scripturally  viewed  in  any  other  light 
than  as  one  of  the  deceived  of  the  devil. 

Since  all  natm'al  men,  therefore,  are  judicially 
and  justly  placed  under  the  power  of  the  deceiver, 
does  it  not  present  any  modification  of  the  sentence 
on  the  part  of  God,  as  an  act  of  mere  and  unmixed 
mercy,  when  men,  by  the  restraining  grace  of  God, 


god's  use  of  evil  spirits.  117 

are  prevented  from  giving  themselves  up  unreservedly 
to  the  temptations  of  the  wicked  one,  and  are  kept 
back  from  the  destruction  into  which,  under  his  im- 
pulse, they  Avould  at  once  plunge,  and  should  it  not 
elicit  our  gratitude  and  praise  for  mercy  undeserved  ? 
If,  therefore,  in  God's  righteous  displeasure  at  any  out- 
breaking and  high-handed  iniquity,  he  determine  to 
dehver  up  any  of  his  fallen  human  creatures  to  the 
full  infliction  of  that  curse  under  which  they  all  justly 
labor  by  nature,  and  to  allow  a  lying  spirit  to  lead 
their  blind  souls  in  full  confidence  over  a  destructive 
precipice,  with  what  feehngs  should  we  witness  the 
providence,  except  with  adoring  wonder,  at  the  great- 
ness and  terribleness  of  the  perfections  of  him  who 
doeth  his  will  in  the  army  of  heaven,  and  among  the 
inhabitants  of  the  earth  ! 

Now,  were  not  Ahab  and  his  corps  of  false  prophets 
suitable  candidates  for  such  an  awful  judicial  visita- 
tion ?  Here  was  a  king,  who,  with  his  queen,  had  set 
himself  up  in  opposition  to  the  worship  of  the  true 
God;  who  had  persecuted  and  slain  the  people  and 
prophets  of  the  Lord ;  who  surrounded  liimself  with 
a  hierarchy  of  impostors,  which,  for  the  sake  of  gain,  be- 
came his  servile  tools,  and  hesitated  not  to  announce 
their  patron's  wishes  and  whims  as  the  will  and  voice 
of  God.  Could  any  dispensation  be  more  righteous 
than  for  these  hypocritical  rebels  against  God  to  be 
overreached  in  their  game  of  delusion ;  for  a  super- 
human instrument,  which  their  own  fallen  wickedness 
had  placed  at  the  just  disposal  of  God,  to  be  employed 
to  seduce  them  into  the  confident  behef  of  that  false- 


118  god's  use  of  evil  spirits. 

hood,  wliicli  they  at  first  announced  with  a  conscious 
unj)osture  ? 

Oh !  with  what  riveted  sureness  does  the  decree  of 
God's  justice  take  effect !  "  Thou  shalt  persuade  him, 
and  prevail  also :  go  forth,  and  do  so,"  said  God  to  the 
lying  spirit;  and  notwithstanding  all  the  outward 
means  of  grace  are  used  to  prevent  the  accomphsh- 
ment  of  the  judicial  prediction;  notwithstanding  the 
veil  is  taken  from  the  unseen  world,  and  Ahab, 
through  Micaiah,  is  privileged  to  behold  the  spiritual 
machinery  which  had  been  put  into  operation  in  order 
to  secure  his  ruin,  yet  he  shuts  his  eyes,  and  rushes 
blindly  on — he  meets  his  foretold  death,  and  his  blood 
is  licked  by  the  dogs  on  the  spot  where  his  victim, 
Naboth,  died.  Oh !  the  depth  of  the  riches,  both  of 
the  wisdom  and  knowledge  of  God  !  How  unsearch- 
able are  his  judgments,  and  his  ways  past  finding  out ! 

See  you  not  now,  brethren,  how  justly  God  can  use, 
according  to  the  scheme  of  revelation,  a  kind  of  in- 
strumentality in  furthering  his  purposes  of  justice  and 
glory,  which  mere  natural  rehgion  and  its  votaries  are 
ever  ready  to  denounce  ?  With  what  feehngs  of  awe, 
then,  should  this  scriptural  view  of  one  of  God's  right- 
ful methods  of  governing  this  fallen  world  inspire  our 
souls,  as  we  witness  much  of  what  is  taking  place  in 
the  present  age  !  What  confidence  do  the  teachers  of 
unscriptural  doctrine  and  their  deluded  followers  often 
exhibit !  Under  what  plausible  claims  of  holiness 
and  charity  do  the  preachers  of  another  Gospel  main- 
tain their  footing  and  influence  in  the  world !  Not- 
withstanding the  clearest  revelations  of  the  truth  in 
those   Scriptures  which  have  been  written   for   om* 


god's  use  of  evil  spirits.  119 

learning,  yet  they  persist  in  preaching  and  following 
with  confidence  the  mere  imagination  of  their  heart : 
"  The  prophets  prophesy  falsely,  and  the  priests  bear 
rule  by  their  means ;  and  my  people  love  to  have  it 
so ;  and  what  will  ye  do  in  the  end  thereof?" 

Is  it  not,  therefore,  in  accordance  Avith  one  of  the 
revealed  principles  of  the  divine  government,  that  God, 
through  some  of  those  numerous  agencies  which,  by  the 
Fall,  have  been  placed  at  his  just  disposal,  should  send 
such  preachers  and  their  congregations  "strong  delu- 
sion, that  they  should  believe  a  lie;  that  they  all 
might  be  damned  who  believe  not  the  truth,  but  have 
pleasure  in  unrighteousness  ?" 

Nor  is  the  fearful  truth  to  which  we  have  been 
attending  confined  in  its  application  to  the  preaching 
and  hearing  of  God's  professed  word,  but  it  extends 
also  to  private  Hfe ;  and  in  our  entire  course  through 
the  world,  or  in  some  one  essential  particular,  it  may 
be  only  through  judicial  blindness,  with  which  our 
self-will  and  iniquity  have  been  cursed,  that  we  verily 
think  w^e  are  doing  God  service ;  whereas,  if,  in  the 
appointed  way,  through  the  written  word,  we  tried 
the  spirit  that  was  in  us,  it  would  prove  to  be  not  of 
God,  but  only  one  that  had  been  sent  for  our  punish- 
ment wdth  the  fatal  commission :  "  Thou  shalt  persuade 
him  and  prevail  also :  go  forth,  and  do  so." 

Two  reflections  will  bring  us  to  a  close.  And,  first, 
our  subject  shows  the  great  grace  of  God  in  appointing 
his  Son,  Jesus  Christ,  as  the  Redeemer  of  our  soids. 
How  abased  and  fearful,  as  disclosed  by  our  discourse, 
is  the  natural  relationship  in  which  we  stand  to  God ! 
Leagued  with  fallen  angels  in  rebellion  against  him  to 


I 


120  god's  use  of  evil  spirits. 

whom  we  owe  our  life,  and  breath,  and  all  things ! 
Delivered  over  by  an  irreversibly  just  decree  to  the 
prevailing  seductions  of  the  deceiver !  An  host  of 
lying  spirits,  waiting  for  the  righteous  permission  of 
an  offended  God,  to  blind  and  lead  us  on  to  any  pre- 
scribed wickedness  or  ruin !  Such  was  our  subjection 
to  fallen  angels,  when,  in  the  fullness  of  time,  God 
sent  forth  his  Son,  not  to  take  upon  him  the  nature  of 
angels,  but  the  seed  of  Abraham ;  and  he  who  knew 
no  sin  was  made  sin  for  us,  had  the  guilt  of  our  league 
with  devils  imputed  to  himself,  and  bore  its  curse. 
Triumphing  in  his  cross  over  those  principalities  and 
powers  by  which  we  had  been  enslaved,  and  making 
a  show  of  them  openly ;  he,  through  death,  overcame 
him  that  had  the  power  of  death,  that  is  the  devil, 
and  delivered  them  wdio,  through  fear  of  death,  were 
all  their  lifetime  subject  to  bondage.  Jesus  hath  be- 
come the  propitiation  for  our  sins,  and  hath  rendered 
it  just  for  God  to  deliver  us  from  the  power  of  dark- 
ness, and  to  translate  us  into  the  kingdom  of  his  dear 
Son.  Even  those  among  men  who  shall  finally  be 
lost,  enjoy  the  benefits  upon  earth  of  that  restraining 
grace  which  the  Redeemer  has  purchased  for  all :  they 
are  shielded  from  the  unchecked  exercise  of  the  de- 
ceiver's powers ;  they  are  vouchsafed  the  warnings  of 
God's  law,  and  the  light  and  invitations  of  Christ's 
Gospel:  they  are  on  earth  as  the  prisoners  of  hope, 
instead  of  being  in  hell,  the  tenants  of  despair. 

And  as  for  those  who  lay  hold  upon  the  hope  set 
before  them  in  the  Gospel,  Jesus  turns  them  from 
darkness  to  light,  from  the  power  of  Satan  unto  God, 
that  they  may  receive  forgiveness   of  sins,  and  in- 


god's  use  of  evil  spirits.  121 

heritance  among  them  that  are  sanctified  by  faith  that 
is  in  him.  Oh !  what  a  change  is  wrought  in  the 
character,  and  condition,  and  prospects  of  Christ's 
redeemed !  From  being  the  chiklren  of  the  wicked 
one,  they  become  the  chikh-en  and  heirs  of  God ! 
From  being  possessed  with  the  spirit  which  worketh 
in  the  children  of  disobedience,  they  have  their  fellow- 
ship with  the  Father  and  with  his  Son,  Jesus  Christ. 
From  the  anticipation  of  being  cast  into  the  lake  of 
fire, — which  is  the  second  death, — with  the  devil  and 
his  deceived,  they  have  become  heirs,  through  hope, 
of  everlasting  life !  And  when  they  awake  up,  satis- 
fied in  the  likeness  of  Christ ;  when  they  have  come 
to  Jesus,  and  to  the  spirits  of  the  just  made  perfect, 
and  to  an  innumerable  company  of  angels;  when 
from  such  holy  fellowship  they  look  down  with  Abra- 
ham and  Lazarus  into  hell,  they  Avill,  in  its  fullness, 
experience  the  amount  of  their  indebtedness  to  him 
who  hath  redeemed  them  from  that  unreserved  com- 
panionship with  devils  and  the  damned  to  which  they 
might  have  been  justly  doomed. 

But,  lastly,  we  may  derive  from  our  subject,  the 
most  important  'practical  lessons  to  regulate  our  feelings 
and  daily  course.  Brethren,  if  we  are  all  by  nature 
under  the  power  of  darkness,  it  is  yet  only  the  Ahabs, 
who,  by  their  proud  and  wicked  lives,  provoke  God 
to  confer  an  effective  commission  upon  a  lying  spirit, 
to  go  forth  and  persuade  them  unto  some  sin  which  is 
unto  death.  How  softly,  then,  should  we  walk  before 
the  Lord !  keeping,  by  faith,  constantly  and  carefully 
in  view  the  unseen  things  which  Micaiah's  vision  re- 
veals !  recognizing,  in  our  fallen  state  and  practical 
wickedness,  the  justice  of  God's  employing,  if  he  see 


122  god's  use  of  evil  spirits. 

fit,  the  terrible  spiritual  agencies  which  are  at  his  dis- 
posal for  our  destruction !  improving  every  means  of 
grace,  and  abstaining  from  all  known  sin,  lest  some 
lying  spirit  be  directed  to  persuade  us,  and  prevail 
also !  How  honestly  and  duly  should  we  feel  and 
confess  the  guilt  of  our  sin;  beseeching  the  Lord. not 
to  be  strict  to  mark  iniquity;  but  to  forgive  it  for 
Jesus'  sake !" 

Nor  should  the  light  of  our  subject  permit  any  of 
us  to  rest,  until  Ave  are  safely  housed  in  Jesus'  side ; 
until,  through  the  Mediator,  we  have  entered  into  that 
better  covenant  with  God,  which  is  ordered  in  all 
things,  and  sure ;  until  the  power  of  Christ  rest  upon 
us,  and  we  find  his  grace  sufficient  to  shield  us  even 
from  the  messenger  of  Satan,  which  may  be  sent  to 
buffet  us  withal !  Nor,  brethren  in  Christ,  have  even 
we  so  triumphed  that  our  warfare  may  be  pronounced 
as  at  an  end.  It  is  said  of  us,  on  the  contrary,  that 
we  wrestle  not  against  flesh  and  blood,  but  against 
principalities,  against  powers,  against  the  rulers  of  the 
darkness  of  this  world.  It  is  only,  above  all,  by 
keeping  the  shield  of  faith,  that  we  shall  be  able  to 
quench  aU  the  fiery  darts  of  the  wicked.  It  is  such 
as  we  whom  our  apostle  encourages  with  the  assurance 
that  the  God  of  peace  shall  bruise  Satan  under  our 
feet  shortly ;  such  as  we,  whom  another  apostle  warns, 
that  the  devil  goeth  about  as  a  roaring  lion,  seeking 
whom  he  may  devour,  and  for  whom  he  prays  that 
the  God  of  all  grace,  after  we  have  suffered  for  awhile, 
may  make  us  perfect,  establish,  strengthen,  settle  us. 
To  him  be  glory  and  dominion  for  ever  and  ever. 
Amen. 


SEEMON  IX. 


NATURAL  AND  SPIRITUAL  REMEDIES  FOR  DARKNESS. 


Isaiah  1.  10,  11. 


"Who  is  among  you  that  feareth  the  Lord,  that  obeyeth  the 
voice  of  his  servant,  that  walketh  in  darkness,  and  hath  no 
light?  let  him  trust  in  the  name  of  the  lord,  and  stay  upon 
HIS  God.     Behold,  all  ye  that  kindle  a  fire,  that  compass 

YOURSELVES  ABOUT  WITH  SPARKS;  WALK  IN  THE  LIGHT  OF  YOUR 
FIRE,  AND  IN  THE  SPARKS  THAT  YE  HAVE  KINDLED.  ThIS  SHALL  YE 
HAVE  OF  MINE  HAND  ;   YE  SHALL  LIE  DOWN  IN  SORROW." 

When  viewed  as  a  symbolic  lesson,  what  a  fearfully 
interesting  picture  was  presented  to  the  eye  of  our 
prophet  in  the  text !  It  was  dark  night ;  rendered 
gloomy  by  some  actual  or  threatening  storm.  The 
worst  apprehensions  might  well  fill  the  breasts  of 
those  who  were  exposed,  without  shelter,  to  the  fury 
of  the  gathering  tempest — and  many  such  there  were 
— for  the  prophet  was  sensible  of  their  presence, 
although  he  could  not  distinguish  them.  Driven,  how- 
ever, by  the  desperation  of  their  circumstances,  to 
devise  some  plan  for  their  relief,  most  of  this  benighted 
and  terrified  company  begin  to  kindle  a  fire,  on  which 
they  pile  up  all  the  fuel  within  their  reach,  so  that  it 
burns  freely  and  brightly,  and  scatters  its  sparks  far 
and  wide.  Under  the  soothing  and  cheering  influence 
of  this  factitious  heat  and  blaze,  those  who  had  been. 


124  NATURAL  AND  SPIRITUAL 

and  still  should  be  struck  with  terror,  at  once  dismiss 
all  fear,  and  begin  to  occupy  and  amuse  themselves 
with  whatever  comes  to  hand.  Suddenly,  however, 
the  storm  bursts,  and  descends — the  fire  is  extin- 
suished — darkness  aorain  shrouds  the  scene — and  the 
revellers  he  down  in  wretchedness,  and  give  vent  to 
their  despair  in  the  most  heart-rending  cries. 

Such  is  the  vivid,  but  sad  representation  suggested 
to  our  minds,  by  the  message  Avhich  Isaiah  is  commis- 
sioned to  deliver  in  the  concluding  portion  of  our  text : 
"  Behold,  all  ye  that  kindle  a  fire,  that  compass  your- 
selves about  with  sparks ;  walk  in  the  light  of  your 
fire,  and  in  the  sparks  that  ye  have  kindled.  This 
shall  ye  have  of  mine  hand ;  ye  shall  lie  down  in  sor- 
row." In  the  meanwhile,  however,  scattered  here  and 
there,  throughout  that  large  assemblage,  with  little  or 
no  possibility  of  co-operation  with  each  other,  and 
standing  almost  alone,  so  that  they  had  to  be  ad- 
dressed, you  will  note,  not  collectively,  but  individu- 
ally, were  some  wdio  reverenced  and  served  that  great 
and  dreadful  Being  from  wdiose  hidden,  but  exhaust- 
less  stores  the  overwhelming  deluge  had  been  gathered. 
These,  too,  during  the  impending  storm,  "  walked  in 
darkness,  and  had  no  hght."  But  they  utterly  refused 
to  join  in  building  a  fire  with  the  decayed  creature 
wood,  which  lay  around.  In  their  sight,  the  hght 
which  it  threw  upon  the  scene  was  of  a  lurid  hue,  be- 
traying its  dismal  and  transient  character.  They 
closed  their  eyes  upon  it,  and,  while  exposed  to  the 
dark,  tempestuous  night,  they  derived  their  sole  con- 
fidence and  support  from  leaning  on  an  imseen  arm ; 
which,  they  felt  assured,  would  supply  them  with  a 


REMEDIES  FOR  DARKNESS.  125 

covert  in  the  approaching  extremity.  Isaiah  was  most 
anxious  to  comfort  and  cheer  these  patient  and  faithful 
servants  of  his  divine  Master,  in  this  period  of  their 
trial ;  and  therefore,  from  the  depths  of  the  surround- 
ing gloom,  he  addresses  and  exhorts  them  first :  "  Who 
is  among  you  that  feareth  the  Lord,  that  obeyeth  the 
voice  of  his  servant,  that  walketh  in  darkness,  and 
hath  no  light  ?  let  him  trust  in  the  name  of  the  Lord, 
and  stay  upon  his  God." 

Such,  then,  is  the  striking  representation  of  our 
text;  and  how  much  does  it  teach  us,  on  the  one 
hand,  of  the  natural  condition^  and  efforts^  and  Jiopes, 
and  ends  of  fallen  man  ;  and,  on  the  other,  of  the  -pre- 
sent trials,  and  duties,  and  final  security  of  those  tvho 
fear  God,  and folloio  his  elect  servant,  Jesus  Christ ! 

To  a  brief  survey  of  these  important  points  we  now 
invite  you,  depending  upon  the  Spirit  of  God  to  apply 
it  profitably  to  our  souls.  And  first.  How  dark  and 
threatening  is  our  natural  condition,  as  depicted  in  the 
text !  Nor  can  any  scripturaUy-minded  or  experienced 
hearer  doubt  the  truthfulness  of  the  representation. 
How  impenetrable  is  the  spiritual  gloom !  "  God,"  we 
are  told,  "is  light j  and  in  him  is  no  darkness  at  all;" 
but  he  withdrew  and  hid  himself  from  his  human 
creatures  at  their  fall ;  and  now,  "  who  by  searching, 
can  find  him  out  ?"  By  nature,  there  is  a  darkness 
resting  both  on  us,  and  in  us. 

The  heathen,  Avho  are  in  a  merely  natm-al  state, 
without  any  revelation,  suffer  from  want  both  of  the 
outward  and  the  inward  light.  It  is  spuitual  night 
with  them,  because  they  are  without  that  "word" 
which  the  Psalmist  said  "  was  a  lamp  unto  his  feet, 


126  NATURAL  AND  SPIRITUAL 

and  a  light  unto  his  path."  Hence  it  is,  that,  when 
our  Lord  came  and  preached  the  Gospel,  it  is  declared, 
that  "the  people  which  sat  in  dai^kness  saw  great 
light;  and  to  them  which  sat  in  the  region  and  shadow 
of  death,  light  is  sprung  up."  And  again  :  "  The  light 
shineth  in  darkness." 

How  fully,  how  obviously  are  these,  and  numerous 
like  assertions  of  the  Scripture,  sustained  by  what  is 
known  of  the  heathen  world !  Have  Christian  navi- 
gators or  travellers  reported  that  they  have  met  in 
mievangelized  lands  with  anything  but  deep,  universal, 
spiritual  night  ?  Has  any  heathen  been  found  w^alking 
in  the  light,  doing  the  will  of  God,  and  enjoying  com- 
munion with  him?  Has  any  of  them  been  able  to 
understand  the  ways  of  Providence,  or  the  end  of 
their  own  existence?  Have  they  not  universally 
proved  themselves  to  be,  by  their  deeds,  the  children 
of  the  wicked  one,  and,  by  their  opinions,  to  be  under 
the  teaching  of  the  father  of  iies?  The  Sun  of 
righteousness  set  upon  those  regions  at  the  Fall,  nor 
has  he  ever  risen  again;  and  it  is  yet  with  them  spirit- 
ual night. 

Nor  can  any  abiding  and  satisfactory  relief  to  this 
universal  darkness  be  found  by  the  enlightened,  we 
had  almost  said  the  honest  inquirer,  even  though  he 
search  the  records  of  the  civihzed  heathen  communi- 
ties of  antiquity.  Many  civil  and  moral  truths,  neces- 
sary to  their  temporal  welfare,  were  known  and 
operating  among  the  Romans  and  the  Greeks.  But 
these  affected  not  the  spiritual  relations  in  which  they 
stood  to  the  true  God.  ThcK  sages  sometimes  ven- 
tured to  guess  or  point  out  the  destiny  of  man ;  but, 


REMEDIES  FOR  DARKNESS.  127 

at  best,  these  were  uncertain  and  erroneous  conjec- 
tures, leaving  no  settled  convictions  on  their  own 
minds,  and  exerting  no  abiding  and  paramount  influ- 
ence on  their  lives.  Such  statements  can  at  best  be 
compared  to  meteors,  which  sometimes  shoot  across 
the  horizon  at  midnight,  and  serve  only  to  make  the 
surrounding  darkness  visible.  It  is,  then,  and  always 
has  been  with  men,  in  their  purely  natural  and  fallen 
state,  just  such  a  time  of  darkness,  in  which  there  is 
no  light,  as  surrounded  the  prophet  when  he  spake  in 
our  text. 

In  what  now.  we  ask,  do  men  who  have  been  born 
and  bred  in  Christian  lands,  but  whose  natures  are  not 
changed — who  have  never  been  subject  to  any  gracious 
operation  of  the  Spirit  of  God  upon  their  souls — spirit- 
ually differ  from  those  Avho  have  always  lived  on 
heathen  shores  ?  We  answer,  Just  as  bhnd  men  in 
the  day  differ  from  bhnd  men  at  night.  Is  this  com- 
parison too  strong?  Is  it  unfounded  ?  The  Psalmist, 
with  the  book  of  Revelation  in  his  hand,  feels  his  need 
of  divine  help  to  bestow  sight ;  and  prays :  "  Open 
thou  mme  eyes,  that  I  may  behold  wondrous  things 
out  of  thy  law."  And  St.  Paul  speaks  of  the  vanity 
of  those  men's  minds  who  are  in  their  native  state, 
"  having  the  understanding  darkened — being  ahenated 
from  the  Hfe  of  God  through  the  ignorance  that  is  in 
them,  because  of  the  bHndness  of  their  heart."  And 
again,  the  same  apostle  declares,  that  "  the  natural 
man  receiveth  not  the  things  of  the  Spirit  of  God ; 
for  they  are  foolishness  unto  him;  neither  can  he 
know  them,  because  they  are  spiritually  discerned." 

Here,  then,  in  so  many  words,  and  in  other  equally 


128  NATURAL  AND  SPIRITUAL 

strong  and  varied  expressions,  men  by  nature  are  de- 
clared to  be  blind,  and  unable  to  know  and  receive 
the  things  of  God.  Of  what  avail,  then,  the  different 
ch'cumstances  in  which  natural  men  are  placed  in 
Christian  and  heathen  countries  ?  Even  though  they 
were  translated  to  heaven,  they  would  not,  in  the 
midst  of  its  light,  be  able  to  see.  Therefore  it  is,  that 
in  effect,  unconverted  men  in  the  United  States  are 
spiritually  as  much  in  the  dark  as  those  who  have 
never  left  the  Feejee  islands.  Oh !  what  an  impene- 
trable and  painful  mystery  are  the  mind  and  ways  of 
God — the  origin,  and  course,  and  objects  of  his  own 
life — to  the  most  gifted  natural  man  in  our  Gospel 
land !  He  may  say  things,  even  on  this  subject,  which 
have  a  great  show  of  wisdom,  and  which  may  exalt 
him  in  the  eyes  of  the  spiritually  blind ;  but  wdien  the 
whole  is  scrutinized,  it  will  prove  to  be  either  uncer- 
tain or  vain:  and  when  the  question  recurs  to  his 
mind.  To  what  am  I  tending  ?  all  is  shrouded  in  the 
blackness  of  darkness. 

The  blind  man  is  always  in  the  dark,  even  under 
the  beams  of  the  meridian  sun.  Hence  it  is  that  our 
prophet  is  authorized,  in  viewing  natural  men — all  who 
do  not  obey  Jesus  Christ,  whether  they  be  Gentiles 
or  Jews,  in  heathen  or  Christian  lands — as  living  in  the 
shades  of  night ;  having  no  light,  except,  indeed,  that 
which  shines  from  the  fire  made  by  themselves.  It 
is,  moreover,  a  most  stormy  and  terrific  night,  wliich 
they  are  passing  under  the  open  sky.  They  are 
homeless  jDrodigals,  who  have  deserted  their  Almighty 
Father's  house.  Nor  is  their  Father  one  w^ho  will 
ever  suffer  his  just  authority  to  be  trampled  upon  or 


REMEDIES  FOR  DARKNESS.  129 

evaded  with  impunity.  The  very  darkness  in  which 
they  are  now  shrouded,  is  part  of  that  curse  with 
which  he  has  pursued  the  wanderers. 

Oh !  how  clear  are  both  the  Kght  and  vision  of  the 
unfallen  and  holy  children  of  the  Most  High.  All 
who  dwell  in  the  mansions  of  his  upper  house,  see 
eye  to  eye,  and  know  even  as  they  are  known.  But 
spiritual  night  has  settled  upon  all  who  have  been 
driven  from  his  presence  and  the  glory  of  his  power. 
What  gloomy  forebodings,  too,  should  possess  the 
minds  of  these  benighted  exiles  from  a  Father's 
house.  Unless  they  had  sunk  to  the  level  of  spiritual 
swine,  would  they  be  content  with  those  husks  which 
are  the  best  that  even  the  most  favored  of  their  com- 
pany eat? 

Many,  on  that  narrow^  neck  of  land  betwixt  two 
unbounded  seas  to  which  they  have  been  driven,  have 
sunk  into  some  miry  pit  of  wretchedness  and  want, 
and  groan  under  the  combined  evils  of  darkness,  and 
destitution,  and  distress.  How  empty  and  vain,  too, 
are  the  portions  of  those  whose  lines  seem  to  have 
fallen  in  more  pleasant  places  !  Nothing  really  satis- 
fies. The  future  cannot  be  read.  No  Providence  is 
understood ;  of  nothing  are  they  assured ;  on  the  pre- 
sent alone  can  they  depend.  If  they  would  only 
reflect,  and  look  around,  they  would  be  convinced 
that  destruction  is  gathering,  and  will  soon,  as  an  ava- 
lanche, descend  on  them  and  all  that  they  hold  dear. 
Clouds,  deep  and  black,  are  over  their  heads ;  bolts 
strike  down,  ever  and  anon,  acquaintances  and  friends 
and  relatives,  on  either  hand.  A  voice  which  says, 
9 


130  NATURAL  AND  SPIRITUAL 

"  Thou,  too,  shalt  die,"  is  sounded  almost  daily  in  the 
ears  of  each. 

Such,  then,  is  the  dark  and  threatening  condition  of 
fallen  man.  To  what,  now,  under  these  terrific  circum- 
stances, do  they  hetaJce  themselves  ?  Our  prophet  assures 
us  in  the  text,  that  they  "  kindle  a  fire,  and  compass  them- 
selves about  with  sparks,  and  they  walk  in  the  light  of 
their  fire,  and  in  the  sparks  that  they  have  kindled." 
Nor  can  these  figurative  expressions  be  misunderstood. 
They  plainly  teach,  that  unconverted  men  discard  all 
proper  reflections  on  their  awful  spiritual  state,  and, 
by  all  the  means  within  their  own  reach,  they  endea- 
vor to  light  up  and  render  comfortable  and  pleasant 
their  dark  and  dreary  condition.  Each  busily  collects 
all  the  wood  and  coal  upon  which  he  can  lay  his  hand, 
and  then  faithfully  brings  his  offering  and  throws  it 
upon  the  kindled  pile,  that  the  fire  may  burn  and 
blaze.  How  learnedly  do  many  of  them  talk  about 
the  progress  in  knowledge  and  art  of  all  preceding 
generations !  How  extensive  is  their  information  of 
all  that  is  doing  and  intended  at  the  present  time ! 
What  prospects  of  improvement  do  some  of  them  hold 
out  in  the  future !  There  is  nothing  too  absurd  to  be 
eloquently  discoursed  about ;  and  whether  an  appeal 
be  made  to  the  hopes  or  the  fears  of  those  who  hear, 
it  is  yet  adroitly  managed  to  minister  to  their  own 
flattery,  or  to  foster  the  ambition  of  their  fellow-men. 
Even  the  most  sacred  themes  are  handled  in  the  same 
irreverent  manner,  and  for  the  same  blasphemous 
ends.  Of  all,  however,  it  is  written,  "  The  world  by 
wisdom  knew  not  God,"  and  "  The  wisdom  of  man  is 
foolishness  with  God :"  yet  it  all  emits  sparks,  with 


REMEDIES  FOR  DARKNESS.  131 

which  men  are  pleased,  and  in  the  light  of  which  they 
walk. 

Again,  to  many  of  them  power  is  given  to  get  wealth. 
How  busily  engrossed  are  most  of  them  in  acquiring 
fortunes;  in  laying  up  for  themselves,  or  their  children, 
earthly  treasure.  What  magic,  too,  do  riches  seem  to 
possess!  By  the  mere  waive  of  their  wand,  they 
convert  the  wilderness  into  a  garden;  they  level 
mountains,  elevate  plains,  change  the  bed  and  course 
of  rivers.  Governments,  or  rich  corporations,  excite 
by  their  achievements  the  wonder  of  the  world;  and 
in  their  private  spheres,  how  enviable  do  the  wealthy 
generally  appear !  What  palaces  they  build— by  what 
comforts  and  luxuries  are  they  surrounded — though 
living  in  a  world  cursed  for  their  sakes,  yet  they 
neither  lie,  nor  sit  down,  nor  rise  up,  nor  walk  without 
coming  in  contact  with  something  which  contributes 
to  their  happiness  or  ease. 

And,  although  "man  being  in  honor  abideth  not, 
but  is  like  the  beasts  which  perish,  yet  their  inward 
thought  is,  that  their  houses  shall  continue  forever, 
and  their  dwelling  places  to  all  generations ;  they  call 
their  lands  after  their  own  names."  Thus  they  com- 
pass themselves  about  with  sparks,  and  walk  in  the 
light  of  their  fire. 

How  many  votaries  of  pleasure,  too,  are  there  in 
this  fallen  world,  almost  recklessly  doing  what  they 
list!  Some  dehght  in  furnishing  their  tables  with  the 
best  which  the  folds,  or  the  fields,  or  the  seas  produce. 
Others  only  feel  themselves  at  home,  when  moving  in 
gay  circles ;  while  balls,  and  theatres,  and  cards  dissi- 
pate the  minds  and  time  of  a  giddy  throng.     "Who 


132  NATURAL  AND  SPIRITUAL 

will  tell  US  any  new  thing?"  "Who  will  show  us  any 
good?"  are  the  insatiable  cries  of  the  Athenians  and 
fashionists  of  every  succeeding  generation.  Thus 
many  rejoice,  and  walk  in  the  ways  of  their  heart  and 
in  the  sight  of  their  eyes ;  without  reflecting  that  for 
all  these  things  God  will  bring  them  into  judgment. 
How  brilliant,  and  often  envied  in  the  eyes  of  their 
fellow-men,  is  the  course  of  those  who  compass  them- 
selves about  with  sparks  like  these ! 

But  we  may  not  dwell;  for  it  would  be  endless  to 
attempt  the  description  of  that  confused  and  noisy 
work,  which,  with  diflering  languages,  the  fallen 
nations  of  the  earth  have  never  ceased  to  contribute 
towards  the  erection  of  a  Babel — some  tower  of  human 
strength,  in  which  men  can  afford  to  forget  God,  or 
set  at  defiance  his  arm. 

However  selfish  and  low,  and  varied,  too,  the  feel- 
ings and  aims  of  each  in  this  busy  mart  are  known  to 
be,  yet  in  the  point  of  ungodliness  all  agree.  Here 
hand  joins  in  hand;  and  to  the  eye  of  sense  it  seems 
as  though  the  multitude  had  the  pre-eminence.  Each 
says  in  his  heart,  "  There  is  no  God,"  and  in  their 
midst,  faithful  prophets  of  the  Most  High,  are  in  such 
an  age  as  this  despised.  In  other  ages,  many  of  God's 
servants  have  barely  escaped  with  their  lives,  while 
not  a  few  have  actually  fallen  a  sacrifice.  Such,  then, 
are  the  fire  and  sparks  which  the  children  of  this  world 
kindle,  and  in  the  light  of  which  they  walk. 

Would  it  not  be  all  but  useless  to  speculate,  now, 
on  the  hopes  of  characters  like  these?  For  to  what 
can  they  be  more  truthfully  compared  than  to  a 
company  of  maniacs,  who,  in  some  dark  night,  should 


REMEDIES  FOR  DARKNESS.  133 

build  a  fire  on  the  slippery  brink  of  a  destructive  pre- 
cipice, and  heedlessly  rise  up  in  its  light  to  play? 

There  is  scarcely  a  breast,  in  all  whom  Isaiah  beheld 
with  his  prophetical  eye,  and  in  all  whom  we  see  day 
by  day,  which  is  swayed  by  any  supreme  and  abiding 
motive.  Beyond  the  immediate  present  object  most 
of  them  feel  no  necessity  or  inclination  to  aim.  Their 
minds  are  a  lodge  of  vain  thoughts  in  endless  suc- 
cession. Their  desires  are  chiefly  of  a  negative  char- 
acter. Most  of  them  do  not  aspire  after  much  more 
than  barely  to  kill  time.  Seldom,  indeed,  are  they  at 
all  far-reaching.  The  very  desperation  of  their  cir- 
cumstances renders  it  necessary  for  them  to  dismiss 
all  reflection;  and  if  in  this  they  succeed,  they  feel 
themselves  to  be  their  own  debtors  to  a  great  degree. 

Here  and  there  in  that  vast  crowd  will  be  discovered 
some  master  mind,  who  manages  not  only  to  divest 
himself  of  all  sense  of  responsibility  to  God,  but  who 
sets  his  eye  fixedly  on  some  earthly  goal,  and  becomes 
absorbed  with  some  positive  worldly  good.  But  even 
such  a  one  aims  at  nothing  beyond  the  horizon  of  time. 
He  is  at  best  earthly  and  sensual;  and  what  shall 
become  of  his  hope  when  God  taketh  away  his  soul — 
when  he  goes  out  of  the  world  as  naked  as  he  entered 
it,  and  knoweth  not  who  shall  gather  what  he  has  left 
behind  ? 

This  leads  us  to  ask  What  shall  the  end  he  of  the 
men  who  thus  kindle  a  fire  and  compass  themselves 
about  with  sparks?  They  are  addressed  by  God's 
sure  word  in  our  text,  "  This  shall  ye  have  of  mine 
hand;  ye  shall  lie  down  in  sorrow."  Oh!  as  under 
the  mighty  hand  of  God,  they  lie  down  on  the  bed  of 


134  NATURAL  AND  SPIRITUAL 

death,  and  their  eyes  are  about  to  close  forever  on 
that  fire  which  they  kindled,  and  in  the  light  of  which 
they  Avalked  through  the  w^hole  journey  of  life — their 
vision  is  in  some  manner  cleared ;  the  very  light  which 
had  been  in  them  they  are  now  ready  to  acknowledge 
was  darkness !  Let  us,  indeed,  never  forget  that  it  is 
written  of  the  death  of  the  wicked,  that  "there  are 
no  bands  in  it."  For  it  is  frequently  evident  to  ob- 
servation that  it  is  even  so;  and  if  we  suppose  that 
Scripture  authorizes  any  other  expectation,  we  may 
be  disappointed  and  almost  tempted  to  doubt.  Many, 
many  of  the  surviving  wicked  are  encouraged  to  live 
on  in  sin,  when  they  see  how  calmly  their  former 
companions  leave  the  world.  For  the  most  part,  then, 
the  wicked  die  even  as  they  lived,  with  little  or  no 
forebodings  of  judgment.  To  the  ministerial  or  Chris- 
tian friend,  who  holds  up  Christ  crucified  as  once  the 
hope  and  salvation  of  the  dying  thief,  and  who  inquires 
if  they  have  a  like  trust;  with  Httle  or  no  power  of 
resistance,  they  return  an  affirmative  reply,  and  sink 
into  the  arms  of  death  as  if  into  their  usual  sleep. 
Far  be  it  from  us  to  rob  the  surviving  of  the  hope 
which  Providence  thus  furnishes;  and  never  should 
the  sovereignty  of  God's  grace  be  limited.  Still,  fears 
must  be  mingled  with  hopes  in  every  case  like  this. 
And  it  should  be  remembered,  that  it  is  not  in  this 
world,  even  though  it  be  in  the  last  moments  of  one's 
pilgrimage,  that  the  spirits  of  the  ungodly  are  surren- 
dered into  the  hands  of  Him  who  taketh  vengeance. 
This  only  begins,  when  the  wdcked  stand  before  His 
judgment  seat — when  the  curse  is  pronounced — when 
the  fire  and  sparks  wdiich  they  kindled  in  tliis  world 


REMEDIES  FOR  DARKNESS.  135 

liave  actually  gone  out,  and  they  are  cast  into  outer 
darkness,  where  their  worm  dieth  not,  and  their  fire 
is  not  quenched.  It  is  then,  that  what  was  threatened 
of  God's  hand  is  fulfilled,  and  they  lie  down  in  sorrow 
— that  sorrow  which  is  everlasting  and  which  is  with- 
out mitigation  or  hope.  Such,  brethren,  is  the  fearful 
issue  of  all  those  remedies  which  fallen  men  devise 
against  the  evils  to  which  flesh  is  heir. 

But,  briefly,  in  conclusion,  we  must  not  forget,  that 
there  were  others  upon  w^hom  the  shades  of  our  pro- 
phet's night  had  settled,  but  whom  he  yet  addresses 
in  more  encouraging  tones.  "Who  is  there,"  he  cries 
out,  among  you  all,  now  exposed  in  a  tempestuous 
night,  the  darkness  of  which  may  be  felt,  "  who  feareth 
the  Lord,  and  obeyeth  the  voice  of  his  servant?" 
Isaiah's  meaning  here  may  be  better  understood  if  we 
paraphrase  it  thus: — "I  address  myself  to  such  of 
you  as  have  that  filial  fear  of  offending  the  Lord, 
which  springs  from  the  assurance  that  your  sins  have 
been  graciously  forgiven  by  him;  to  such  of  you  as 
implicitly  trust  in  and  obey  his  elect  servant  and  only 
begotten  Son,  Jesus  Christ.  It  is  true  you  are  now- 
walking  in  darkness,  and  have  no  light.  You  are  not 
exempt  from  the  temporal  trouble  in  which  the  un- 
righteous are  involved.  Nay,  for  the  trial  of  your 
faith,  your  afflictions  are  even  more  numerous  and 
heavy  than  theirs.  You  have  no  light  in  your  dark- 
ness. It  may  be  you  have  scarcely  any  outward 
tokens  of  God's  love  and  care — none,  at  least,  for 
which  the  mere  natural  heart  would  be  thankful. — 
Nor  are  you  relieved  by  the  light  of  that  fire  which 
your  faUen  feUow-creatures  build.     In  it,  with  faithful 


136  NATURAL  AND  SPIRITUAL 

steadfastness  towards  God,  you  utterly  refuse  to  walk, 
upon  it  you  determinately  shut  your  eyes." 

Nay,  my  brethren,  the  prophet  may  have  meant 
more  than  this.  For,  if  in  such  a  temporal  night,  the 
disciples  of  Jesus  Christ  only  enjoy  spiritual  light;  if 
the  candle  of  the  Lord  shine  upon  them  as  it  did  once 
upon  Job,  in  similar  circumstances,  like  the  patient 
patriarch,  they  may  joyously  pass  through  such  dark- 
ness with  this  light.  But  the  prophet  describes  them 
as  walking  in  darkness,  and  having  no  light.  Those, 
then,  whom  our  prophet  addressed,  were  in  the  con- 
dition of  Job,  Avhen  he  was  denied  the  light  and  help 
which  God's  sensible  presence  and  guidance  would 
have  afforded  him :  and  when  he  cried  out  in  agoniz- 
ing desire  for  its  being  conferred  again,  "  Oh !  that  it 
were  with  me  as  in  months  that  are  j^ast."  It  was 
with  them  a  period,  not  only  of  temporal  affliction, 
but  of  inward  and  spiritual  darkness.  God  had  hidden 
himself,  and  could  no  where  be  found. 

While,  then,  these  disciples  of  Jesus  Christ  are  stand- 
ing still  and  quietly  waiting  in  the  midst  of  their  outward 
and  inward  darkness,  our  prophet,  in  the  text,  exhorts 
each  of  them,  "Let  him  trust  in  the  name  of  the  Lord, 
and  stay  upon  his  God."  Nor  was  this  a  prescription 
which  in  their  trouble  they  despised.  "They  that 
know  thy  name,"  saitli  the  psalmist,  "will  put  their 
trust  in  thee:"  and  it  was  because  these  knew  the 
name  of  the  Lord,  that  Isaiah  is  encouraged  to  urge 
them  to  place  their  trust  in  it.  Ere  this,  the  Lord 
hath  passed  before  them,  in  their  own  personal  ex- 
perience, and  j)roclaimed  his  name,  as  he  did  before 
Moses  in  the  rock,  "  The  Lord,  the  Lord  God,  merciful 


KEMEDIES  FOR  DARKNESS.  137 

and  gracious,  long-sufTering,  and  abundant  in  goodness 
and  truth,  keeping  mercy  for  thousands,  forgiving 
iniquity,  transgression  and  sin."  With  what  a  fore- 
taste of  heaven  did  that  personal  fellowship  with  God 
fill  their  souls !  Now  their  sky  is  overcast,  and  their 
soul  is  troubled.  But  they  know  that  Jesus  Christ 
is  the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  forever;  that  he 
is  the  Lord,  who  changeth  not;  a  great  and  dreadful 
God,  keeping  the  covenant  and  mercy  to  them  that 
love  him,  and  to  them  that  keep  his  commandments. 
Therefore  they  could  not  but  trust  in  his  name, 
although  no  outward  token  of  his  love  and  faithful- 
ness was  then  vouchsafed;  and  although  they  would 
have  exclaimed  in  despair,  if  listening  to  the  voice  of 
sense,  "  There  is  no  hope ;  this  evil  is  from  the  Lord ; 
wherefore  should  we  wait?" 

Moreover,  our  prophet's  language  teaches  us,  that 
each  of  them  might  have  been  assured  that  he  had  a 
personal  property  in  God.  Therefore  it  is  that  he 
calls  upon  each  of  them  in  this  extremity  to  stay 
himself  upon  his  God.  Yea,  even  though  he  had  at 
tliat  present  moment  only  the  bare  word  of  God 
upon  which  to  rely,  yet  each  was  convinced  that 
God  was  not  a  man,  that  he  should  lie;  and  he 
therefore  supported  himself  by  this  sure  pro- 
mise; he  strengthened  himself  to  bear,  and  waited 
quietly  until  he  saw  the  salvation  of  God.  Under- 
neath and  behind  their  patient  endurance,  brethren, 
there  was  a  calm  and  unshaken  conviction  that  all 
would  yet  be  well — a  conviction,  which,  although  for 
the  present  it  could  not  be  called  joyous,  not  one  of 
these  afflicted  believers  would  yet  have  been  deprived 


138  NATURAL  AND  SPIRITUAL 

of  for  worlds;  and  in  comparison  with  which,  the 
laughter  of  those  who  were  walking  in  the  light  of  the 
fire  which  they  had  kindled,  was  like  the  crackling 
thorns  under  a  pot,  when  contrasted  with  the  full  and 
steady  beams  of  the  meridian  sun.  Even  if  their 
spiritual  sense  enjoyed  not  the  presence  of  God,  yet 
their  judgment  saw  him  who  was  invisible.  Nor  was 
this  judgment  altogether  without  some  saving  hope. 
For  truly  each  of  the  righteous  may  say  with  David, 
"^ Thou  wilt  light  my  candle;  the  Lord  my  God  2uiil 
enlighten  my  darkness." 

If  such,  too,  brethren,  be  the  difference  between  the 
lamps  of  the  wise  virgins,  when  contrasted  under  the 
least  favorable  circumstances  with  those  of  the  foolish, 
while  both  are  burning  in  this  world,  Oh!  what  a 
contrast  exists,  when  the  candle  of  the  wicked  is  put 
out,  and  he  lies  down  in  sorrow !  While  the  one  is 
cast  into  outer  darkness,  the  other  is  translated  into 
the  glorious  presence  of  God.  It  may  Avith  all  truth 
be  said  of  those  who  fear  God  and  obey  Jesus  Christ, 
that  the  period  of  their  darkest  trials  on  earth  was 
that  seed  time,  in  which  light  was  sown  for  them,  and 
joyful  gladness.  In  the  world  to  come  they  reap  the 
full  harvest.  They  are  taken  where  there  shall  be 
no  night;  and  they  need  no  candle,  neither  light  of 
the  sun;  for  the  Lord  God  giveth  them  light. 

We  join,  therefore,  with  our  prophet,  in  encouraging 
those  of  you,  brethren,  who  fear  the  Lord,  and  obey 
Jesus  Christ,  to  trust  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  and  to 
stay  upon  your  God,  whenever  you  walk  in  darkness 
and  have  no  light.  We  would  also  ask  such  of  you, 
my  hearers,  as  walk  in  the  light  of  your  own  fire. 


REMEDIES  FOR  DARKNESS.  139 

and  of  the  sparks  which  you  have  kindled,  this  in- 
spii'ed  question:  "If,"  as  you  cannot  now  but  see, 
"the  righteous  scarcely  be  saved,  where  shall  the 
ungodly  and  the  sinner  appear?"  We  would  faithfully 
urge  you  hastily  and  effectually  to  put  out  your  fire; 
and  with  the  fixed  purpose  only  to  see  light  in  God's 
light,  to  begin  to  pray  to  God  to  manifest  himself  to 
you  as  he  is  in  Christ,  and  to  arise  and  shine  upon 
you  that  you  may  have  peace  and  salvation. 


SERMON  X. 


HATRED  TO  GOD  OF  THE  UNRENEWED  HEART. 


Rom.  viii.  7. 
"The  carnal  mind  is  enmity  against  god." 

It  is  no  wonder  the  sinner  knows  not  that  he  hates 
his  God.  God  is  too  good  to  be  hated.  And  none 
do  like  to  feel  themselves  so  vile  as  to  hate  the  good 
and  perfect  God.  God  is  too  henevolorxt  to  be  hated. 
^'^From  him  cometh  every  good  and  perfect  gift;"  and 
it  would  not  do  to  know  that  such  love  is  returned 
with  hate.  God  is  too  powerful  to  hate.  "Let  the 
pptsherds  strive  with  the  potsherds  of  the  earth ;  but 
woe  be  to  the  man  who  striveth  with  his  Maker." 
It  would  cause  despair  and  dread  in  man  to  know 
that  there  was  in  him  irreconcilable  hatred  against 
Almighty  God. 

On  these  and  such  like  accounts,  sin  perceiveth  that 
its  dwelling  and  dominion  in  the  human  heart  would 
not  be  entire  and  undisputed,  if  its  real  nature, — 
hatred  to  God — were  known,  and  therefore  exerteth 
all  its  inconceivable  cunning  to  persuade  the  soul  it  is 
at  peace  with  God.  Yet  notwithstanding  all  this,  and 
more,  "the  carnal  mind  is  enmity  against  God."    What 


142         HATRED  TO  GOD  OF  THE  UNRENEWED  HEART. 

is  the  carnal  mind  ?  It  means,  and  might  more  literally 
be  rendered,  the  minding  of  the  flesh, — the  loving  and 
following  the  dictates  of  the  flesh.  What  is  the  flesh? 
We  stop  not  to  inquire  how  it  came  to  be  thus  used ; 
but  are  satisfied  to  know  that  its  very  common  Scrip- 
ture sense  is, — the  each  and  every  bias  of  the  man  to 
forbidden  things, — the  corruption  of  our  nature, — our 
every  motion,  whether  spiritual,  mental,  or  corporeal, 
whether  originating  within  us,  or  only  according  with 
some  outward  suggestion  of  the  Devil  and  the  world, 
which  is  contrary  to  the  holiness  and  claims  of  God. 
The  minding  of  this  thing — ^the  flesh, — this  carnal 
mind  is  enmity  against  God. 

Now,  dear  brethren,  there  is  not  one  of  us  who  is 
wholly  exempt  from  the  indwelling  of  this  self-same 
flesh,  this  enmity  against  God.  The  sacred  Scrip- 
tures know  but  two  classes  here  and  everywhere, 
those  who  have  been  born  again,  and  thus  have  become 
the  children  of  God;  and  those  who  are  unrenewed, 
and  are  not  the  adopted  and  covenant  heirs  of  God. 
The  former  through  grace  have  become  the  tabernacles 
of  the  Spirit  of  Christ.  Now  even  in  such  of  you, 
beloved  hearers,  as  are  members  of  the  household  of 
faith,  according  to  your  different  degrees  of  sanctifi- 
cation,  there  is  less  or  more  of  the  flesh,  or  enmity 
against  God.  Though  the  mind  and  affections  be 
enlightened  from  above, — though  the  Holy  Ghost  dwell 
within, — yet  the  flesh,  weakened  it  is  true,  but  still 
awfully  strong,  remains.  And  in  you,  that  is  in  your 
flesh,  dwelleth  no  good  thing:  and  though  with  the 
mind  you  serve  the  law  of  God,  yet  with  the  flesh  the 
law  of  sin:  and  the  flesh  lusteth  against  the  Spirit, 


HATRED  TO  GOD  OF  THE  UNRENEWED  HEART.    143 

and  the  Spirit  against  the  flesh;  and  these  are  con- 
trary the  one  to  the  other. 

It  is  not  our  object  now  to  dwell  on  this  mighty 
struggle  in  the  Christian's  soul;  nor  to  open  how  God 
may  and  doth  adopt  and  love  him  who  hath  still 
within  him  enmity  to  his  glory  and  his  ways;  nor  to 
show  the  mode  in  which  God  will  overcome  and  exile 
tliis  horrible  enmity,  and  make  his  child  meet  for  his 
holy  presence.  It  must  suffice  us  for  this  present  as 
regards  these  things,  to  know  that  in  our  blessed  Jesus 
lies  hid  this  mystery  of  God.  And  our  purpose  in 
alluding  to  the  Christian's  unsubdued  remaining  flesh, 
or  enmity  to  God,  was  two-fold. 

First,  to  remind  him  of  the  necessity  of  charity, 
while  we  unfold  the  nature  of  the  carnal  mind,  because 
the  leaven  still  exists  within  himself. 

Secondly,  to  show  the  unrenewed,  that  the  Christian 
mourns  over  his  own  continued  partial  subjection  to 
the  carnal  mind,  rather  than  with  unfeehng  forgetful- 
ness  of  the  rock  whence  he  was  hewn,  denounces  him : 
thus  striving  to  remove  a  prejudice  against  the  minister 
of  Christ,  which  will  extend  itself  to  what  he  says, 
while  he  proclaims  the  unpalatable  truth,  that  the 
carnal  mind  is  enmity  against  God.  - 

The  main  difference,  as  regards  the  point  in  hand, 
between  those  who  are  born  of  God,  and  you  impeni- 
tent and  unrenewed,  that  we  hold  and  set  forth,  is 
that,  through  the  grace  of  God  given  for  the  merits  of 
Jesus,  the  new  born  soul  for  the  most  part,  doth  not, 
with  its  heart  and  mind  assent  to  the  promptings  and 
workings  of  the  flesh,  but  that  you  do.  Here  is  no 
boasting  then;  it  is  excluded.     The  Christian  doth 


144    HATRED  TO  GOD  OF  THE  UNRENEWED  HEART. 

not  magnify  himself  when  he  saith  that  in  you  and  all 
who  have  not  been  born  again,  there  is  the  carnal 
mind,  and  that  this  carnal  mind  is  enmity  against  God. 
But  while  we  disown  all  self-praise,  and  condemn  our- 
selves with  you,  still  your  sin  is  none  the  less  culpable 
because  told  you  by  a  fellow-culprit.  The  impenitent 
thief  was  no  less  guilty  because  he  was  told  by  his 
fellow-thief  on  the  other  side  of  Jesus,  that  he  was 
justly  suffering  his  present  punishment.  We  say  then 
impenitent  friend,  in  you  is  the  carnal  mind.  "  That 
which  is  born  of  the  flesh,"  saith  Jesus,  "is  flesh." 
It  continueth  flesh  until  it  be  born  of  the  Spirit. 
The  flesh  doth  exercise  uncontrolled  dominion  in  some 
way  or  other,  until  the  soul  be  born  again.  There 
may  be,  and  there  is,  within  the  unrenewed,  resistance 
from  the  natural  conscience  and  the  voice  and  provi- 
dence of  God  to  the  desires  and  devices  of  the  flesh, 
and  this  resistance  hath  its  effect, — it  produceth  fear^ 
and  leadeth  to  many  acts  of  outward  service  and 
obedience  to  God, — but  it  never  hath  the  cordial 
approval,  co-operation  and  delight  of  his  inward  man. 
And  until  this  be  gained,  there  is  no  saving  change; 
there  is  no  triumph  of  the  Spirit  over  the  flesh;  the 
soul  hath  not  been  born  again.  All  acts  and  feelings 
wliich  stop  short  of  this  new  birth — this  radical  change, 
are  but  wicked  artifices  of  the  flesh, — which  by  its 
seeming  yielding  doth  silence  conscience,  lull  and  bUnd 
the  soul.  And  notwithstanding  these,  nay,  on  account 
of  them,  what  Jesus  saith  doth  remain  an  uncontra- 
dicted unqualified  truth,  "that  which  is  born  of  the 
flesh  is  flesh." 

And,  again,  St.  Paul,  notwithstanding  the  fearful 


HATRED  TO  GOD  OF  THE  UNRENEWED  HEART.    145 

remainders  of  the  carnal  mind  in  every  Christian  soul, 
doth  draw  a  distinction  between  the  present  state  of 
himself  and  of  the  brethren  at  Rome,  and  the  past, 
when  they  "were  in  the  flesh."  It  is  most  scriptural 
then  to  say  to  you,  beloved,  who  are  not  born  of  the 
Spirit  of  God,  that  ye  are  in  the  flesh,  that  you  have 
a  carnal  mind.  But  the  Scripture  further  saith,  "the 
carnal  mind  is  enmity  against  God."  This  is  the 
declaration  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  It  may  not  be  gain- 
sayed  by  any  but  the  infidel.  Oh !  ye  who  say,  that 
ye  believe  the  Scripture  is  the  word  of  God,  and  who 
yet  profess  not  to  be  born  again,  that  word  doth  say, 
your  mind  is  enmity  against  God.  Hear  the  Spirit 
when  he  speaks,  and  calls  you  the  enemy  of  God. 
Believe  and  tremble,  too,  while  you  hear.  For  if  the 
king,  in  the  Scriptm^e  parable,  who  had  ten  thousand, 
could  not  meet  him  who  came  against  him  with  twenty 
thousand,  and  wisely  sent  an  embassy  of  peace;  be 
reconciled  to  this  thy  mighty  adversary  whilst  thou 
art  in  the  way  with  him,  lest  he  deliver  thee  to  prison. 

And  oh !  should  a  rebellious  son  who  has  wronged 
a  tender  and  forbearing  parent,  throw  himself  upon 
his  injured  father's  neck,  nay,  at  his  feet,  if  so  be, 
there  might  be  reconcihation :  and  is  not  God  a  father  ? 
Is  he  not  loving  to  thee,  man?  The  mother  may 
forget  her  sucking  child,  but  he  hath  not  forgotten 
thee.  And  he  saith  unto  his  enemy.  Son,  daughter, 
give  me  thine  heart. 

But  what  return  doth  this  appeal  meet  with  from 

the  carnal  mind?     It  maketh  God  a  liar;  for  it  denies 

the  charge.     It  showeth  all  it  does,  and  vaunteth  of 

its  works.     It  mentioneth  its  tithes,  and  telleth  of  its 

10 


146    HATRED  TO  GOD  OF  THE  UNRENEWED  HEART. 

prayers.  "Wherein  have  I  robbed  thee?"  it  saith. 
Have  I  not  built  thee  an  house?  Do  I  not  worship 
thee  therein?  Humble  I  not  myself  before  thee  daily 
on  my  knees?  With  thy  people  I  fast  and  afflict 
myself;  with  the  Church  I  rejoice  and  feast;  I  wrong 
no  man;  with  my  goods  I  feed  the  poor;  and  if  that 
be  not  enough,  I  will  give  my  body  to  be  burned: 
"wherein  have  I  robbed  thee?"  "But  to  what  pur- 
pose is  the  multitude  of  your  sacrifices  unto  me?" 
saith  the  Lord,  "I  am  full  of  them.  Is  it  such  a  fast 
that  I  have  chosen?  The  Sabbaths,  the  calling  of 
assemblies  I  cannot  away  with:  it  is  iniquity,  even 
the  solemn  meeting.  Make  you  a  new  heart.  Son, 
daughter,  give  me  thy  heart.  The  carnal  mind  is 
enmity  against  God." 

But,  beloved,  do  you  hesitate  to  own  the  truth  that 
your  carnal  mind  is  enmity  against  God?  Do  you 
still  make  mention  of  your  frequent  acknowledgment 
of  God  in  all  your  ways,  the  reverence  you  feel  and 
show  to  him,  to  his  law,  and  to  his  worship?  And 
do  you  still  rest  in  these  to  prove  that  you  are  not 
the  enemy  of  God?  It  strikes  me  there  is  much  of 
truth  in  what  you  say.  You  are  not  the  enemy  of 
your  God. 

But  alas !  alas !  the  deceitful  flesh,  the  carnal  mind 
— in  order  to  make  you  quiet  in  its  service — hath 
built  a  god,  which  is  no  god,  and  given  him  to  you  to 
worship  and  to  serve.  And  to  make  its  fetters  of 
delusion  strong,  calls  him  the  God  of  the  Bible;  and 
persuades  you  to  call  and  worship  him  as  such.  But 
the  flesh  deceives ;  it  is  not  the  God  of  the  Bible, — 
for  he  saith  the  carnal  mind  is  enmity  against  God. 


HATRED  TO  GOD  OF  THE  UNRENEWED  HEART.    147 

Oh !  be  persuaded,  then,  the  flesh  doth  lie ;  own  your- 
self the  enemy  of  God;  forthwith  be  reconciled.  He 
hath  ascended  up  on  high,  and  led  captivity  captive ; 
and  received  gifts  for  thee,  pardon  and  salvation 
through  his  name.  Go,  reason  then  with  him,  for  he 
calls,  though  your  sins  be  as  scarlet,  they  shall  be  as 
white  as  snow,  though  they  be  red  Hke  crimson,  they 
shall  be  as  wool.  Harken,  while  I  endeavor  to  dis- 
close this  fatal  deceit  of  the  flesh,  whereby  you  have 
been  persuaded  that  you  are  at  peace,  while  you  are 
at  enmity  with  God. 

The  way  in  which  the  carnal  mind  hath  induced 
you  to  believe  that  it  was  well  with  thee  and  God,  is 
by  lowering  in  thy  conceptions  his  nature  and  his 
claims  so  as  to  suit  thy  sinful  views,  thy  feelings  of 
self-sufficiency,  all  thy  loved  indulgences,  and  thy 
withholding  of  the  service  of  the  heart.  Now  hear 
what  the  true  and  Bible  God  does,  and  what  he  de- 
mands; how  he  views  thee,  and  the  only  terms  on 
which  he  will  pardon  and  accept  thy  soul,  and  say  if 
your  carnal  mind  is  not  enmity  to  him. 

Look,  then,  at  what  he  does.  He  permitteth  none 
to  do  what  will  not  praise  him ;  for,  the  remainder  he 
doth  restrain.  He  bringeth  all  to  pass.  "Is  there 
evil  in  the  city  and  he  hath  not  done  it?"  He  saith, 
"I  create  evil."  He  considereth  his  own  wisdom  the 
best,  and  maketh  it  the  only  guide.  He  locketh  up 
his  purpose  in  mystery,  and  opens  and  reveals  it  just 
when  and  how  it  pleaseth  him.  He  doeth  "his  will 
in  the  army  of  heaven,  and  among  the  inhabitants  of 
the  earth."  Nothing  is  too  great  or  small  to  escape 
his  governance.     "He  is  the  ruler  among  the  nations;" 


148    HATRED  TO  GOD  OF  THE  UNRENEWED  HEART. 

and  lie  numbereth  the  hairs.     "I,  the  Lord,  do  all 
these  things." 

Now,  beloved,  it  thus  appears  that  every  event 
which  hath  happened  to  thee;  every  circumstance 
and  condition  in  which  you  have  been  placed;  every 
relation  in  which  you  stand  to  men  and  things,  have 
been  ordered,  brought  about  by  God.  Now,  have 
you  dehghted  yourself  in  these  as  they  occurred? 
You  have  been  much  and  often  blessed.  Have  you 
received  these  good  and  perfect  gifts  of  God  with  due, 
heartfelt,  delighted  acknowledgment  of  his  hand,  and 
thanks  unto  his  name?  Hath  this,  your  habit  of 
acknowledgment,  been  so  glad,  that  it  hath  been  un- 
deviating, — a  thing  of  course?  Or,  have  you  not 
dethroned  the  Bible-God,  exalted  self,  and  looked  to 
thy  right  hand  ?  Or,  with  thoughtless  and  unthankful 
sensuality  indulged  thy  wishes  and  thy  appetites, — 
forgetful  of  the  Father  of  light?  Here  then  thy  carnal 
mind  doth  rob  the  Bible-God,  and  show  its  bitter 
enmity  to  him. 

But,  it  maybe,  you  have  been  sometimes  crossed. 
In  property  you  have  sustained  some  loss.  "  The 
Lord  gave,  and  the  Lord  hath  taken  away ;  blessed 
be  his  name."  Li  your  plans  you  have  failed :  "  Not 
my  will,  but  thine  be  done."  You  have  been  injured 
too;  but  with  wicked  hands,  these  men  have  only 
done  what  the  Lord  had  purposed,  foreordained : 
"  Father,  forgive  them ;  they  know  not  what  they  do." 
Have  you  thus  honored  God  in  all  your  ways  ?  or  did 
you  not  forthwith,  without  dependence,  seek  and 
devise  some  means  to  reinstate  thyself,  to  alter  and 
amend  thy  plan,  or  else  sorrow  as  one  "  without  hope, 


HATRED  TO  GOD  OF  THE  UNRENEWED  HEART.    149 

without  God  ?"  Did  you  not  hate  your  enemy ;  and 
if  stayed  from  abuse  and  revenge,  was  it  not  from 
other  motives  than  because  the  Bible-God  had  said 
vengeance  was  his,  and  had  enjoined  thee  to  forgive 
and  love?  Oh!  it  is  only  a  carnally-conceived  and 
flesh-made  God  you  worship.  It  is  one  which  is  no 
God,  and  suffers  thee  to  sit  upon  the  throne  thyself. 
It  is  one  which  is  content  with  nominal  and  outward 
homage,  and  permits  thee  to  serve  another  king — thy- 
self In  your  heart  you  have  dethroned  the  Bible- 
God,  and  taken  his  sceptre  in  thy  hands ;  and  doth 
he  make  a  false  charge  when  he  saith,  "  Your  carnal 
mind  is  enmity  against  God  ?" 

But  again,  beloved,  look  at  his  demands,  his  laio. 
We  have  i3reviously  insisted  somewhat  on  this;  we 
will  now,  then,  be  brief  Not  only  as  governor,  but 
as  lawgiver,  you  displace  the  Bible-God,  and  in  his 
stead  put  an  imaginary  creature  of  thine  own,  which 
is  weak  and  foolish,  and  permitteth  thee  to  make  and 
construe  thine  own  laws.  You  have  great  contempt 
for  him ;  thinking  him  to  be  satisfied  with  lip-service 
and  the  obedience  of  the  outward  man.  You  some- 
times even  come  short  in  the  homage  that  you  acknow- 
ledge you  should  pay  to  him.  It  is  easy  to  glide  from 
low  views  of  his  spirituality  to  degrading  conceptions 
of  his  strictness  and  his  power.  Tush !  he  doth  not 
regard.  Oh !  where  will  the  end  be,  if  not  in  a  prac- 
tically atheistic  creed?  Surely,  the  carnal  mind  is 
enmity  against  the  Bible-God. 

But,  finally,  beloved,  look  at  his  views  of  thee,  and 
the  only  ground  of  pardon  and  acceptance  he  provides. 
Judge,  then,  of  his  views  of  thee  by  his  treatment  of 


150    HATRED  TO  GOD  OF  THE  UNRENEWED  HEART. 

the  blessed  Christj  who  loved  and  gave  himself  for 
thee.  See  there  thy  substitute.  God  leadeth  him 
into  the  garden ;  he  poureth  the  vials  of  his  wrath  on 
him;  he  putteth  him  in  trouble,  agony,  and  bloody 
sweat;  he  maketh  him  to  be  deserted,  betrayed,  de- 
nied by  friends ;  he  hideth  the  favor  of  his  face ;  he 
delivereth  him  into  the  hands  of  murderous  foes ;  he 
causeth  them  to  scourge  and  spit  upon  him ;  he  put- 
teth a  cross  upon  his  shoulder,  and  carrieth  him  unto 
the  mount ;  he  nails  him  by  his  hands  and  feet ;  he 
makes  him  bow  his  head  and  die ;  he  runneth  a  spear 
into  his  dead  side.  And  now  he  bringeth  thee  to  the 
accursed  tree,  and  showeth  thee  what  he  hath  done 
with  Christ,  because  he  placed  him  in  thy  stead,  and 
requireth  thee  to  own  the  justice  of  the  deed.  Dost 
thou  feel  and  say,  "  Just  and  holy  are  thy  ways,  0 
God  ?"  Or  doth  the  carnal  mind  now  show  itself  to 
be  enmity  against  the  Bible-God  ? 

But  further;  he  commands  thee  to  believe  in  Jesus, 
lifted  up,  and  doth  denounce  and  threaten  thus  :  "  He 
that  believeth  not,  shall  be  damned."  He  tells  thee, 
renounce  utterly  all  hope,  and  trust  in  self.  Bely  on 
Jesus'  obedience  unto  death  for  pardon  and  accept- 
ance with  offended  God.  Make  mention  of  no  name 
but  his.  Receive  him  as  thy  king ;  love  and  strive  to 
follow  his  spiritual  commands ;  seek  and  obtain  his 
Spirit  to  resist  and  triumph  over  thy  carnal  mind. 

There  remainetli  but  another  way  to  show  thy 
hatred  unto  God ;  but  we  will  here  rest  the  proof  of 
its  existence  and  its  strength,  and  use  that  other  way 
rather  to  break  down  the  enmity  of  thy  carnal  mind. 
We  leave  the  proof,  then,  with  God's  command  to  thee 


HATRED  TO  GOD  OF  THE  UNRENEWED  HEART.    151 

to  believe  in  Jesus  Christ.    Dost  thou  refuse  ?     Then 
there  is  within  thee  enmity  to  God. 

And  now,  if  you  resist  this  last  appeal,  let  your  re- 
sistance prove  to  you,  when  you  retire  hence — doubt 
not  throughout  future  life — the  truth,  that  the  carnal 
mind  is  enmity  against  God.  For  lo !  thy  God  doth 
lay  aside  his  majesty :  he  suppHcates  and  he  entreats ; 
as  a  friend,  he  teaches,  warns,  and  pleads.  He  bids 
his  minister  before  you,  search  the  Scriptures,  know 
his  will — then  sends  me  to  thee  with  a  friendly,  per- 
severing violence,  to  instruct,  invite,  expostulate, 
alarm.  Now,  then,  as  an  ambassador  for  Christ,  "  as 
though  God  did  beseech  you  by  us,  we  pray  you,  in 
Christ's  stead,  be  ye  reconciled  to  God."  Your  "  carnal 
mind  is  enmity  against  God."  And  oh  !  beloved,  it  is 
not  meet  or  right  to  hate  so  good  a  God,  who  made 
and  gave  thee  all  thou  art  and  hast.  It  is  perverse 
longer  to  hate  the  Bible-God,  who  showeth  mercy  to 
unrighteousness ;  who  gave  his  Son  to  death,  that,  in 
Christ's  flesh,  he  might  abolish  the  enmity,  so  making 
peace ;  that  he  might  reconcile  you  to  himself  by  the 
cross,  having  slain  the  enmity  thereby.  He  preacli- 
eth  peace  to  you  which  are  afar  off. 

Now,  therefore,  be  no  more  a  stranger  and  foreigner, 
but  a  fellow-citizen  "  with  the  saints,  and  of  the  house- 
hold of  God."  Oh !  beloved,  though  God  might  not 
clear  the  guilty,  yet  to  justify  thee,  he  seizeth  on  his 
Christ,  and  doth  punish  thee  in  him.  Then,  let  the 
love  which  spared  not  his  own  Son,  but  gave  him  up 
for  thee,  subdue  thine  enmity  to  God. 

But  let  me  further  say :  "  To  be  carnally  minded  is 
death."     Enmity  to   God  is  death.     It  is  spiritual 


152         HATRED  TO  GOD  OF  THE  UNRENEWED  HEART. 

death  in  this  present  evil  world,  God  doth  not  reveal 
himself  unto  his  enemy.  The  carnal  mind  discerneth 
not  the  things  of  God.  It  knoweth  not  his  will.  His 
wUl  is  foolishness  to  it.  Its  eyes  are  blinded;  its 
ears  are  stopped ;  its  understanding  darkened.  It  can- 
not please  God,  neither  is  it  pleased  with  him.  It 
doth  not  possess  and  enjoy  God.  It  saith  unto  God, 
Depart ;  I  desire  not  the  knowledge  of  thy  ways.  It 
hath  not  Christ,  who  only  is  the  life.  The  carnal 
mind,  while  it  liveth,  is  yet  accounted  dead  before 
God.  Christ  is  hid  in  God ;  and  in  this  only  life  the 
carnal  mind  hath  neither  lot  nor  part.  It  is  without 
a  Hving  hope,  without  a  living  God.  Oh !  sinner, 
dead  in  trespasses  and  sins,  by  the  might  and  grace  of 
Jesus,  slay  this  carnal  mind,  this  enmity  to  God. 

But,  further,  to  be  carnally-minded  is  not  only  pre- 
sent spiritual  death,  but  it  is  the  beginning,  and  will 
insure  the  perpetuity  of  the  second  death.  In  pity- 
ing, saving  love  to  thee,  God  doth  tolerate,  for  a  brief 
space,  thy  carnal  mind,  that  his  forbearance  may  lead 
thee  to  renounce  this  enmity  to  him.  But  the  time 
cometh  when  he  will  visit  with  recompense  his  foes ; 
when  the  economy  of  grace  shall  close,  and  judgment 
take  the  mercy-seat.  Oh !  enemy  of  God,  be  recon- 
ciled ;  for  thou  mayest  not  stand  his  Almighty,  burn- 
ing, never-ending  wrath. 

Thou  seest  now,  0  man!  thine  enmity  to  God; 
that  thou  dost  virtually  dethrone  the  king  and  Lord 
of  all,  and  that  you  and  God  are  foes.  Thou  seest 
further  how  sinful  and  unwise  is  enmity  to  God ;  that 
it  is  death.  Still  dost  thou  find  the  carnal  mind  too 
strong  ?     WiU  it  not  permit  thee  to  dehght  thyself  in 


HATRED  TO  GOD  OF  THE  UNRENEWED  HEART.    153 

God  ?  And  do  you  ask,  How  may  I  escape  the  wrath 
to  come  ?  What  must  I  do  ?  You  are  in  the  condition 
of  the  servant  which  owes  ten  thousand  talents,  and 
hath  not  wherewithal  to  pay.  All  that  you  have,  nay 
your  very  self,  is  God's.  You  may  not,  then,  give 
him  what  you  have  to  purchase  peace,  for  that  is 
already  his.  Surely  there  can  be  nothing  tvithin  thee 
to  commend  thee  to  his  love ;  for  there  is  within  thee 
enmity  to  him.  Thine  only  hope  is  then  nowhere  out 
of  God,  but  lies  hid  in  God  himself.  It  must  be  his 
sovereign  pleasure  to  have  mercy,  or  he  will  tread 
down  his  foe.  His  own  glorious  nature  must  prompt 
him  to  show  compassion,  or  you  cannot  escape  the  return 
of  enmity  and  wrath.  With  thankful  gladness,  then, 
let  him  provide  the  way,  dictate  the  terms.  And 
Jesus  is  the  way.  "  Whosoever  believeth  in  him, 
though  he  were  dead,  yet  shall  he  live."  "And  who- 
soever liveth  and  believeth  in  him  shall  never  die : 
believest  thou  this  ?" 

Go,  then,  lay  down  the  weapons  of  thine  enmity  to 
God ;  make  an  unconditional,  unreserved  surrender  of 
thyself  at  the  feet  of  Jesus  Christ.  Receive  salvation 
as  a  gift,  if  so  be  you  may.  Take  up  the  yoke  and 
cross  of  Christ,  and  make  thy  boast  therein.  Receive 
the  Spirit,  his  best  gift.  Thus  the  Holy  Ghost  will 
make  thee  his  tabernacle ;  he  will  fight  and  check  the 
carnal  mind,  the  enmity  within.  He  will  cause  thee 
to  put  off  the  old  man,  rejoice  in  the  new,  and  bring 
thee  to  serve  with  the  mind  the  law  of  God.  He  will 
seal  thee  to  the  day  of  promise.  He  will  turn  thee 
from  taking  pleasure  in  the  carnal  mind,  to  the  doing 
all  things  for  the  glory  of  thy  God.     He  will  give 


154         HATRED  TO  GOD  OF  THE  UNRENEWED  HEART. 

thee,  in  the  end,  triumph  in  Christ,  over  the  law  of 
sin  and  death  from  which  you  shall  he  freed.  He 
will  impart  to  thee  the  spirit  of  adoption,  wherehy, 
instead  of  enmity  to  God,  you  may  look  up  and  say, 
"Abba,  Father."  He  will  cause  the  holy  hosts  above 
to  rejoice  and  shout,  because  an  enemy  is  converted 
to  a  child — the  lost  into  the  saved. 

And  you,  whose  enmity  is  pardoned,  blotted  out — 
who  have  had  much  forgiven — will  love  much.  With 
all  His  other  perfections,  which  unfallen  angels  know 
and  love,  you  will  reaHze  in  him  a  sin-forgiving  God, 
redeeming  Jesus,  a  sanctifying  Holy  Ghost.  How 
doubly  deep  the  love  of  ransomed  and  forgiven  man ! 
How  close  the  ties  which  bind  him  to  his  God !  What 
untold  joy  in  the  peace  that  takes  the  place  of  enmity ; 
the  heaven  which  takes  the  place  of  hell ! 

But  I  have  done.  "The  carnal  mind  is  enmity 
against  God."  It,  too,  is  prejudiced  and  strong.  No 
argument  can  convince ;  no  declaration  of  God  silence ; 
no  threatening  make  it  yield ;  no  entreaty  win ;  no 
love  melt.  Oh!  Spirit  of  the  living  God,  be  not 
grieved  by  the  enmity  you  meet.  Subdue  the  carnal 
mind  within  these  hearts,  and  make  them  ever-hving 
monuments  of  the  grace  of  him  who  bought  them 
with  his  blood.  Oh !  servant  of  sin,  become  the  freed- 
man  of  the  Lord.  Oh !  enemy  of  God,  become  his 
child. 


SEEMON  XL 


THE    SECOND   BIRTH.  — I, 


John  iii.  7. 
"  Ye  must  be  born  again." 


There  could  not  be  a  more  appropriate  subject  for 
our  consideration  to-day,  than  our  text.  For  that 
miraculous  Pentecostal  descent  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
which  we  now  commemorate,  was  vouchsafed  in  order 
that  we  might  have  an  actual  and  standing  proof  of 
the  divine  source  of  that  great  change  in  man's  nature, 
upon  the  necessity  of  which  our  Saviour  here  insists, 
and  to  establish  the  means  of  effecting  which  was  the 
great  object  of  his  visit  to  the  earth.  No  doubt  that 
mighty  and  rusliing  sound  from  heaven,  like  wind, 
which  filled  the  house  where  the  original  disciples 
were  sitting ;  and  those  lambent  flames,  which  rested 
upon  their  bodies,  and  that  wonderful  power  of  speech 
in  strange  tongues  with  which  they  were  endued, — 
were  all  immediately  intended  to  establish  the  inspi- 
ration of  the  apostles,  and  to  clothe  their  teaching 
with  a  divine  authority.  But  the  object  of  that  very 
word,  which  the  apostles  were  to  preach  and  write, 
was  that  it  might  be  the  means  of  producing  and  per- 
fecting that  change  in  us  required  in  our  text.     Thus, 


156  THE  SECOND  BIRTH. 1. 

St.  James  declares  that  tlie  operation  through  which 
he  and  his  fellow-disciples  had  become  the  children  of 
God,  was  accomplished  in  this  way  :  "  Of  his  own 
will  begat  he  us  with  the  Avord  of  truth."  Passages 
to  the  same  effect  might  be  multiplied ;  but  let  this 
suffice  to  show,  that  the  ultimate  object  of  the  miracu- 
lous descent  of  the  Holy  Spirit  at  the  first  Christian 
Pentecost,  was  to  teach  the  fundamental  Gospel  truth, 
that  he  was  the  author  of  that  Second  Birth  which 
our  Saviour  declares  in  the  text  must  take  place ;  in 
other  words,  that  descent  proved  that  believers  "were 
born  not  of  blood,  nor  of  the  will  of  the  flesh,  nor  of 
the  will  of  man,  but  of  God." 

We  can  scarcely,  therefore,  with  more  propriety  be 
called  upon  this  day  to  consider  any  words  of  Christ, 
than  those  recorded  in  the  text:  "Ye  must  be  born 
again." 

In  doing  this,  four  points  claim  our  attention ;  each 
of  Avhicli  may  prove  highly  instructive. 

The  first  of  these  is :  The  necessH?/  of  the  second 
lirth  here  spoken  of — "  ye  must  be  born  again." 

The  next  is  :  The  nature  of  this  second  lirth — ^what 
it  is  to  be  born  again. 

The  third  is :  The  means  of  this  second  hirth — 
through  what  instrumentality  or  agency  we  are  born 
again. 

The  last  is  :  The  effects  of  this  second  hirth.  How 
can  it  be  known  when  we  are  born  again,  and  what 
are  the  blessings  which  we  enjoy  in  consequence  of 
being  born  again. 

Our  first  inquiry,  therefore,  concerns  the  necessity  of 
the  second  hirth.     This  could  not  be  insisted  upon  in 


THE  SECOND  BIRTH. 1.  157 

stronger  terms  than  those  used  by  our  Saviour  in  the 
text.  He  says  :  ^'  Ye  must  be  born  again."  There  is 
no  dispensing  with  this  requu-ement ;  there  is  no  ex- 
ception to  this  rule.  If  we  desire  to  become  spiritu- 
ally connected  with  the  Saviour  of  souls,  and  present 
ourselves,  in  a  natural  state,  before  him  as  candidates 
for  the  privilege  of  this  heavenly  discipleship,  instead 
of  admitting  us,  with  such  a  character,  into  this 
blessed  fellowship,  he  points  out,  with  a  warning 
voice,  the  quahfication  which  he  looks  for  in  those 
who  are  admitted  to  the  joys  of  his  redemption.  He 
says :  "  Ye  must  be  born  again ;"  and  to  show  that 
this  obhgation  rests  upon  every  individual  of  our  race, 
upon  each  one  who  claims  the  name  of  man,  he  thus 
expresses  himself:  "  Except  a  man  be  born  again,  he 
cannot  see  the  kingdom  of  God." 

It  is  our  object  to  make  the  truth  of  this  necessity 
manifest,  and  to  root  it  in  your  deepest  convictions.  In 
attempting  to  do  this,  may  we  not  regard  it  as  a  point 
settled  between  us,  that  the  grounds  of  this  necessity 
wiU  be  found,  if  anywhere,  in  the  nature  of  the  first 
birth  ?  For  if  the  first  birth  had  no  deficiencies  or 
positive  faults — ^if  it  answered  the  purposes  of  our 
own  blessedness  and  God's  requirements,  there  would 
be  no  room  for  demanding  a  change,  for  considering 
another  birth  to  be  necessary.  Let  us  look,  therefore, 
at  the  condition  of  the  soul  that  has  been  only  once 
born.  When  first  ushered  into  this  state  of  existence, 
how  loathsome  and  helpless  is  the  condition  of  every 
child  of  Adam !  But  when  the  hand  of  kindness  has 
exerted  its  offices,  so  innocent  and  attractive,  how- 
ever, is  the  infant's  ordinary  appearance,  that  the 


158  THE  SECOND  BIRTH. 1. 

language  of  Scripture,  respecting  its  spiritual  state 
and  relationship,  sounds  to  every  natural  ear  like  the 
dogma  of  some  morose  creed,  and  every  uninstructed 
tongue  is  ready  to  denounce  it  as  untrue.  But  wait, 
and  observe  awhile.  How  subject  to  calamity  and 
disease  is  the  whole  bodily  frame  of  this  interesting 
little  stranger !  As  many  such  a  one  falls  a  victim 
to  suffering  and  death,  is  not  the  unwilling  acknow- 
ledgment wrung  from  every  witness,  that  the  entire 
race  of  which  the  mute  httle  patient  is  a  member,  are 
"  children  of  wrath  ?"  The  cause  may  be  wholly  un- 
accountable ;  or  if  the  finger  of  inspiration  points  it 
out,  it  may  be  scouted  as  insufiicient  or  unjust ;  still, 
these  undeniable  facts  sustain  the  Scriptural  truth, 
that  "  we  are  by  nature  the  children  of  wrath ;"  that, 
"  as  sparks  fly  upward,  man  is  born  to  trouble." 

But  let  us  now  proceed  a  step,  and  ask.  How  can 
aU  this  be  rendered  consistent  with  the  well-known 
character  of  God,  with  his  love,  and  even  with  his  jus- 
tice, if  we  are  to  consider  the  present  as  the  original 
estate,  the  condition  in  which  we  were  first  created ; 
unless,  indeed,  we  suppose  that  our  nature  has  re- 
ceived a  wrench,  and  now  sustains  a  very  different 
relation  to  its  Almighty  Maker  from  that  which  it  bore 
to  him,  when  it  came  forth  from  his  hand  ?  Where, 
too,  can  we  find  a  satisfactory  account  of  that  wrench, 
unless  we  receive  that  which  is  recorded  in  the  Bible  ? 
unless  we  believe  that  our  race  had  a  representative  in 
its  first  progenitor  in  the  garden ;  that  that  represent- 
ative fell  by  transgression,  and  that  he  afterwards 
begat  children  in  his  then  corrupt  likeness  and  cursed 
condition  ?    All  this  may  run  counter  to  the  views  of 


THE  SECOND  BIRTH. 1.  159 

unenlightened  natural  reason ;  it  may  contradict  cur- 
rent maxims  in  the  world ;  but  it  furnishes  the  only 
account  which  has  ever  been  given  of  the  way  in 
which  we  fell  into  that  wicked  condition  in  which  we 
are  all  undeniably  born ;  and  it  exactly  accords  with 
the  revelations  which  Scripture  has  made  of  the  entire 
subject,  and  which  are  summed  up  by  St.  Paul  in  the 
words,  "  By  one  man  sin  entered  into  the  world,  and 
death  by  sin." 

Unless  we  take,  therefore,  the  ground,  that  there  is 
no  God,  or  that  he  is  not  the  perfect  character  which 
we  should  be  all  ready  to  regard  him,  the  sufferings 
and  deaths  of  unconscious  babes  prove  that  the  Scrip- 
tural doctrine  respecting  the  corruption  of  our  very 
nature  is  true ;  that  "  by  one  man  many  were  made 
sinners ;"  that  before  we  are  actual  sinners,  we  are 
natural  sinners ;  and  that  however  innocent  an  infant 
may  be  in  the  sight  of  those  who  judge  according  to 
the  outward  appearance,  he  is  yet,  by  the  fact  of  his 
first  birth,  by  his  simple  descent  from  Adam,  corrupt 
and  utterly  estranged  from  God. 

In  strict  conformity  with  this  teaching  is  the  IXth 
Article  of  our  Church,  which  declares,  that  there  is 
"  the  fault  and  corruption  of  the  nature  of  every  man 
that  naturally  is  engendered  of  the  offspring  of  Adam, 
whereby  man  is  very  far  gone  from  original  righteous- 
ness, and  is  of  his  own  nature  inclined  to  evil;  and 
therefore,  in  every  person  born  into  this  world,  it  de- 
serveth  God's  wrath  and  damnation." 

Nor  can  we  forbear,  brethren,  at  this  point,  dii*ect- 
ing  your  hearts  to  lift  up  themselves  in  praise  to  that 
grace  of  God  in  Christ,  which  gives  us  ground  to  hope 


160  THE  SECOND  BIRTH. — I. 

that  a  precious  blood  has  been  provided,  in  which  the 
souls  of  all  infants  have  their  guilt  washed  away,  ere 
they  are  taken  out  of  this  world ;  and  that  the  Holy 
Spirit  has  been  procured  to  change  their  corrupt 
nature,  and  to  fit  them  for  fellowship  with  God  -,  so 
that  "  of  such  is  the  kingdom  of  God"  chiefly  com- 
posed. Oh!  what  consolation  is  afforded  by  this 
assurance  to  the  bereaved  heart  of  many  a  Christian 
parent ;  as  she  resigns,  in  obedience  to  that  summons 
which  must  always  be  obeyed,  her  endeared  offspring 
into  the  hands  of  him  who  is  as  ready  now  to  take 
little  children  into  his  arms  and  bless  them,  as  he  was 
when  here  upon  the  earth. 

But  let  it  never  be  for^-otten,  that  the  two  things 
are  entirely  distinct — what  infants  deserve  from  God's 
justice,  on  account  of  their  fallen  nature,  and  what 
they  enjoy  from  his  grace,  as  it  is  revealed  in  Christ. 
While  we  hold  fast  to  the  hope,  that  God  gives  us  in 
their  behalf  through  Christ,  and  beheve  that  all  infants 
who  die,  are  by  the  mere  fact  of  their  death  proved 
to  be  among  God's  elect  and  saved;  yet  let  us  not  be 
tempted  to  listen  to  the  reasonings  of  unenlightened 
nature,  and  to  regard  infants  as  in  themselves  meet 
to  inherit  this  everlasting  blessedness ;  let  us  maintain 
as  a  fundamental  Scriptural  truth,  that  "by  nature 
we  are  not  children  of  the  kingdom,  but  children  of 
the  wicked  one."  And  oh!  how  sadly  consistent  with 
this  humbhng  doctrine  are  the  first  developments  of 
that  nature,  whenever  it  is  spared  long  enough  in  this 
world  to  reveal  its  real  character!  Here,  too,  sound 
and  enlightened  observation  confirms  the  statements 
of  God's  word.     "We  go  astray  from  the  womb,  speak- 


THE  SECOND  BIRTH. — I.  161 

ing  lies."  In  how  many  ten  thousand  ways  do  the 
supreme  deceitfulness  and  desperate  wickedness  of 
the  heart  betray  themselves,  and  that,  too  in  the 
grossest  forms !  We  deny  not  that  there  may  he  much 
about  some  that  is  highly  esteemed  among  men — it 
may  even  j^ass  for  godliness  in  the  world;  but  when 
it  is  put  into  the  vessel  of  God's  word,  and  j)laced 
upon  the  live  coals  from  the  altar,  it  proves  to  be 
"abomination  in  God's  sight."  Yea,  "all  our  right- 
eousnesses are  as  filthy  rags :  and  though  we  wash 
ourselves  in  snow  water,  and  make  our  hands  never 
so  clean,  yet  does  God  plunge  us  in  the  ditch,  and  our 
own  clothes  do  abhor  us.  For  who  can  bring  a  clean 
thing  out  of  an  unclean?     Not  one." 

This  is  not  only  the  testimony  of  "the  holy  men  of 
old;"  but  it  is  the  experience  of  all  who  have  ever, 
in  their  own  name  and  strength,  attempted  to  work 
out  a  righteousness  with  God,  and  who  have  had  their 
eyes  afterwards  opened  to  discern  spiritual  things,  and 
to  perceive  the  vileness  of  their  own  persons  and  offer- 
ings. Oh!  how  short-coming,  as  regards  the  divine 
standard;  how  unsatisfactory,  as  regards  their  effects 
upon  ourselves,  are  all  our  efforts  in  a  state  of  nature 
to  hold  fellowship  with  the  only  real  God,  so  holy  and 
so  just,  as  he  has  revealed  himself  in  the  Bible !  Our 
imaginations  may  indeed  create  a  divine  fiction — we 
may  picture  to  ourselves  a  God  suited  to  our  infirmi- 
ties, pleased  with  such  service  as  we  can  render  him 
before  we  are  converted  by  his  Spirit,  and  incorporated 
by  faith  in  Christ;  we  may  flatter  and  enjoy  ourselves 
much  in  the  worship  of  this  imaginary  god,  whom  we 
suppose  to  be  the  true  God.  We  may  even  hold  on 
11 


162  THE  SECOND  BIRTH. 1. 

to  this  delusion  until  death,  and  our  hope  only  perish 
when  God  taketh  away  the  soul.  St.  Paul  lived  for 
many  years  under  the  power  of  this  self-deception. 
He  declares  that  he  "was  ahve  without  the  law  once." 
He  means  here  by  his  having  been  "without  the  law," 
that  he  had  had  no  spiritual  understanding  of  it,  and 
was  therefore  as  really  without  it — although  he  was 
a  Jew — as  if  he  had  been  an  unenlightened  Gentile. 
He  Avas  still,  however,  at  this  very  period  "ahve :"  i.  e., 
he  flattered  himself  that  he  was  all  this  while  comply- 
ing with  God's  requirements,  and  that  he  was  not 
spiritually  dead,  but  aUve.  He  was  strong  in  the 
conviction  that  he  was  then  hving  with  God,  and 
would  forever  live  with  him  hereafter.  "But,"  the 
apostle  continues,  "when  the  commandment  came,  sin 
revived  and  I  died."  That  is,  when  God  taught  him 
the  true  meaning  and  requirements  of  his  command- 
ments, and  caused  the  law,  in  all  its  spiritual  and  rigid 
exactions,  to  stand  before  him — his  own  state  of  dis- 
obedience was  unveiled — it  seemed  like  the  reviving 
of  sin  from  the  dead  in  his  breast;  he  became  con- 
scious of  its  power  and  guilt;  he  perceived  that  sin 
was  controlling  every  faculty  and  affection,  and  that 
he  was  in  consequence  lying  under  an  infinite  load  of 
divine  wrath.  As  a  consequence,  he  testifies  that  he 
"died:"  i.  e.,  his  hopes  of  God's  favor  were  at  once 
bhghted,  and  he  felt  that  he  was  "dead  in  trespasses 
and  sins."  St.  Paul,  in  this  sad  experience,  too,  was 
only  the  follower  and  forerunner  of  many  who  have 
been  brought  under  the  same  severe,  but  yet  gracious 
schoohng  from  on  high. 

Many,  indeed,  in  every  generation  have  been  sin- 


THE  SECOND  BIRTH. 1.  163 

cere,  and  earnest,  and  indefatigable,  and  self-afflicting 
in  the  discharge  of  much  which  they  have  supposed 
was  pleasing  to  God.  To  every  spiritual  observer, 
however,  it  has  been  obvious  that  their  whole  service 
was  unauthorized,  and  at  the  same  time  heartless  and 
joyless.  It  seemed  to  be,  and  was,  the  work  which 
is  done  by  an  unwilling  slave,  or  at  least  of  one  who 
was  laboring  for  reward,  and  not  from  love. 

Some  of  the  very  best,  too,  of  those  who  have  thus 
called  themselves  to  the  service  of  their  God,  but  who 
have  never  been  recognized  as  his  servants  by  the 
God,  have  from  time  to  time  had  their  eyes  opened 
to  discern  the  true  character  and  requirements  of  God 
and  their  own  spiritual  condition;  and  the  result  has 
been  that  each  of  them  has  been  able,  in  all  its  fullness, 
and  with  self-application,  to  adopt  the  confession  of 
St.  Paul,  and  to  testify,  that  "I  was  alive  without 
the  law  once;  but  when  the  commandment  came, 
sin  revived,  and  I  died."  Under  the  revelation, 
every  such  a  one  has  felt  as  incapable  of  doing  any- 
thing pleasing  to  God,  as  a  dead  man  is  of  moving. 
And  when  an  acknowledged  supernatural  change  has 
been  wrought  upon  his  soul,  it  is  equivalent  to  a 
passing  from  death  to  Hfe;  scales  fall  from  the  eyes; 
he  who  had  been  blind  now  sees;  old  things  have 
passed  away,  and  behold  all  things  have  become  new. 
Now  he  begins  to  serve  God  with  other  feelings,  and 
with  real  delight.  God  is  no  longer  regarded  as  a 
taskmaster,  but  is  served  with  filial  fear.  The  soul 
itself  is  no  longer  a  slave,  but  is  the  Lord's  freeman. 
In  every  feeling  and  action  the  love  of  Christ  con- 
strains. 


164  THE  SECOND  BIRTH. 1. 

Thus  the  experience  of  St.  Paul,  as  well  after,  as 
before  he  met  the  Lord  Jesus,  on  his  Avay  to  Damascus, 
accords  with  the  history  of  every  new-born  soul. 

We  must  not,  however,  anticipate  wdiat  is  to  be 
considered  under  future  heads.  We  have  said  enough 
to  show  that  not  only  pubhcans  and  sinners,  but  the 
most  reputable  Pharisees,  need  a  thorough  change  of 
heart;  that  not  only  gross  and  undeniable  transgres- 
sions are  offensive  to  God,  but  that  natural  piety  is  also 
unacceptable  in  his  sight. 

Our  first  birth  involves  us  in  a  state  of  guilt  and 
slavery  to  sin.  We  need  a  second  birth;  by  which 
we  can  be  removed  out  of  this  fearful  relationship  to 
God — that  we  may  be  no  longer  subject  to  his  wrath, 
but  be  rendered  capable  of  doing  works  pleasing  in 
his  eyes.  Until  we  have  been  the  subjects  of  this 
second  birth,  he  will  not  allow  us  to  approach  him 
with  peace  or  acceptance.  All  that  we  do  is  loath- 
some to  him.  Even  our  ordinary  avocations  are  re- 
probate while  we  remain  in  a  natural  state  :  om- 
ploughing  is  pronounced  to  be  sin,  and  the  sacrifice 
which  we  offer  is  regarded  as  abomination  in  his  sight. 
Thus  we  come  short,  m  the  condition  in  which  our 
first  birth  places  us,  of  the  glory  of  God — of  what  he 
requires  of  us — of  the  way  which  he  has  appointed  as 
that  in  wliich  his  name  is  to  be  honored.  By  the 
same  deficiency,  too,  we  of  course  fail  of  securing  that 
blessedness  which  it  is  the  privilege  of  every  moral 
and  immortal  creature  of  God  to  attain.  No  fellow- 
ship is  vouchsafed  us  with  the  Holy  and  Just  One. 
If  we  aspire  to  it,  we  are  denied.  Should  we  even 
desire  to  become  subjects  of  that  kingdom,  which  the 


THE  SECOND  BIRTH. 1.  165 

great  love  and  grace  of  God  commissioned  his  Son  to 
establish  on  this  earth  for  the  salvation  of  our  fallen 
souls,  the  King  meets  us  with  the  requisition,  "Ye 
must  be  born  again."  As  we  present  ourselves  at  the 
gate  of  heaven,  after  death,  and  seek  admittance,  we 
find  inscribed  upon  it  the  same  regulation,  "Except  a 
man  be  born  again,  he  cannot  enter  the  kingdom  of 
God." 

Thus  all  the  children  of  fallen  Adam  are,  by  the 
curse  which  their  first  birth  entails,  exiles  from  their 
God — in  both  worlds,  throughout  time  and  eternity, 
restless  wanderers  from  his  bosom — made  such  and 
kept  such  by  a  law  which  sprung  from  God's  nature, 
and  is  as  fixed  and  unchangeable  as  that  nature  itself. 
It  is  revealed  for  our  learning  in  the  text.  The 
youngest  and  the  simplest  in  this  house  can  under- 
stand and  retain  its  terms.  It  reads,  "  Ye  must  be 
born  again." 

The  grounds  which  exist  in  the  first  birth  for  the 
necessity  of  a  second  birth,  we  trust,  brethren,  are 
now  manifest.  Let  us,  therefore,  for  the  present,  here 
rest  the  matter,  reserving  for  consideration  at  another 
time  the  remaining  points — the  first  of  which  is,  the 
nature  of  that  second  hirth,  which  we  are  now  ready  to 
admit  must  take  place.  We  venture,  however,  upon 
a  brief  apphcation  of  what  has  been  already  said. 

From  what  an  oppressive  burden,  then,  are  those  of 
us  delivered,  who  have  been  born  again!  No  law, 
which  changeth  not,  excludes  us  from  the  hope  of 
salvation.  Nay,  we  already  have  the  adoption  of  sons, 
and  are  admitted  into  fellowship  with  the  Lord  Al- 
mighty, as  children  and  heirs.     Many  causes  may 


166  THE  SECOND  BIRTH. 1. 

indeed  combine  to  make  us  groan  within  ourselves, 
although  we  be  the  first  fruits  of  the  Spirit;  yet, 
while  subject  to  these,  we  may  well  wait  in  hope  for 
the  manifestation  of  the  sons  of  God.  For  I  reckon 
that  the  sufferings  of  this  present  hfe  are  not  worthy 
to  be  compared  with  the  glory  which  shall  be  revealed 
in  us,  when  we  shall  see  Jesus  as  he  is,  and  be  trans- 
formed into  his  perfect  image ;  when  those  feeble  and 
dim  Uneaments  of  character,  by  which  we  are  even 
now  recognized  as  the  children  of  God,  shall  shine  in 
full  strength,  and  we  shall  be  satisfied  by  awaking  up 
in  his  likeness. 

Then  let  us,  this  day,  when  we  are  to  meet  as  the 
sons  and  daughters  of  God,  around  our  Father's  table, 
call  upon  our  souls  and  all  that  is  within  us  to  praise 
his  name,  who  suppHes  us  in  that  bread  and  wine  with 
the  sacramental  signs  and  proofs,  that  he  gave  up  his 
only-begotten  Son  to  bleed  and  die,  in  order  that  the 
Spirit  through  whom  we  have  been  begotten  into  his 
own  image,  might  be  purchased  for  our  souls,  and  w^e 
might  thus  meet  the  requisitions  of  that  unchangeable 
law,  by  which  it  has  been  decreed,  that  we  "must  be 
born  again."  Nay ;  let  us  praise  our  heavenly  Father, 
not  only  for  Avhat  we  may  be,  but  for  what  we  are — 
for  our  having  been  translated  from  nature's  darkness 
into  the  light  and  liberty  of  the  sons  of  God. 

But  ye,  beloved,  who  are  still  laboring  under  the 
curses  of  the  first  birth — still  burdened  with  the  ne- 
cessity of  being  born  again,  how  can  you  rest;  how 
can  you  be  contented  in  the  pursuit  of  any  worldly 
gain,  or  in  the  discharge  of  any  duties  in  the  Church 
of  Christ,  while  the  Head  of  the  Church  himself  fore- 


THE  SECOND  BIRTH. 1.  167 

warns  you,  that  ere  you  can  enter  into  his  spiritual, 
which  is  his  only  real  and  eternal  kingdom,  "ye  must 
be  born  again  ?"     Oh !  let  this  text  sound  in  your  ears, 
whenever  you  lie  down,  and  whenever  you  rise  up — 
wherever  you  go,  whether  it  be  about  your  ordinary 
business,  or  even  to  the  house  of  God,  or  to  the  do- 
mestic altar,  or  to  the  closet.     Let  the  conviction  sink 
deep  into  your  mind,  that  of  all  the  treasure  which 
you   are   laying  up  here   you  will  soon  be  forever 
stripped  unless  you  be  born  again;  that,  as  an  outcast, 
you  will  soon  be  banished  from  the  presence  and  com- 
pany of  God's  visible  people,  unless  you  be  born  again. 
Oh !  build  not  upon  the  foundation  of  the  first  birth. 
Strive  not  to  make  nature  better;  but  let  grace  take 
the  place  of  nature  in  your  heart.     Work  not  for  hfe, 
but  from  life.     Let  Him  who  quickeneth  the  dead  say 
to  you  "Live,"  and  then  you  will  perform  the  works 
not  of  the  dead,  but  of  the  living.     Cease  then  from 
all  that  you  can  do,  and  look  unto  Him,  who  can  beget 
you  to  a  lively  hope  by  his  own  resurrection  from  the 
dead.     Then  with  one  heart  and  one  voice,  each  of 
the  two  classes  in  this  house,  those  who  before  had 
been  twice  born,  and  those  who  have  just  experienced 
the  second  bu'th,  will  be  able  to  join  in  this  well- 
known  song  of  Zion,  which  is  founded  in  our  text : — 

"  Amaz'd  I  stood,  but  could  not  tell 
Which  way  to  shun  the  gates  of  hell, 

For  death  and  hell  drew  near. 
I  strove,  indeed,  but  strove  in  vain; 
The  sinner  must  be  born  again, 

StiU  sounded  in  my  ear. 


168  THE  SECOND  BIRTH. 1. 

When  to  the  law  I  trembling  fled, 
It  poured  its  curses  on  my  head, 

A  vast  oppressive  load. 
Alas !  I  read  and  saw  it  plain. 
The  sinner  must  be  born  again, 

Or  feel  the  wrath  of  God! 

The  saints  I  heard  with  rapture  tell 
How  Jesus  conquered  death  and  hell. 

And  broke  the  fowler's  snare ; 
Yet  when  I  found  the  truth  remain, 
The  sinner  must  be  born  again, 

I  sunk  in  deep  despair. 

But  while  I  thus  in  anguish  lay, 
Jesus  of  Nazareth  passed  that  way, 

And  felt  his  pity  move — 
The  sinner  by  His  justice  slain. 
Now  by  His  grace  is  born  again, 

And  sings  redeeming  love." 


SERMON  XII. 


THE    SECOND   BIRTH.— II. 


John  iii.  7. 
"Ye  must  be  born  again." 

In  now  resuming  the  consideration  of  this  text,  we 
are  prepared,  by  what  has  gone  before  to  admit,  and 
even  to  insist  upon,  the  necessity  of  some  great  change 
in  our  natural  characters — a  change  so  thorough  that 
it  should  be  considered  equivalent  to  a  second  birth. 
It  has  appeared  that  otherwise  we  can  never  attain 
the  great  end  of  our  existence — we  wiU  never  appre- 
ciate or  enjoy  fellowship  with  God — nor  indeed  will 
we  be  allowed  to  hold  such  blessed  intercourse  with 
the  Holy  and  Just  One.  The  grounds  of  this  necessity 
were  found  to  be  based  upon  the  character  of  our  first 
birth — upon  that  likeness  to  our  first  fallen  father  in 
which  we  were  begotten — and  in  which  we  were 
placed  under  that  same  curse  of  God,  and  entertained 
the  same  enmity  to  God  and  his  ways,  by  which  Adam 
was  distinguished  after  he  had  sinned.  This  stern 
necessity,  too,  we  have  seen,  is  just  as  universal  as  it 
is  radical.  None  can  plead  that  he  is  exempt  from 
the  law  proclaimed  by  our  Saviour  in  the  text. 

As  a  prehminary  to  our  entering  into  the  kingdom 


170  THE  SECOND  BIRTH. II. 

of  Christ,  it  is  required  not  only  of  the  open  and  gross 
sinner,  but  of  the  most  moral  atheist,  and  of  the  most 
Pharisaical  religionist,  that  he  should  be  born  again. 
The  simple  fact  of  our  having  been  once  born — and 
that,  too,  though  we  should  die  before  we  could  have 
sinned  in  our  own  persons  after  the  similitude  of 
Adam's  transgression,  before  we  could  have  actually 
disobeyed — the  mere  fact  of  our  first  birth  entails 
the  necessity  of  a  second  birth.  Whether  we  be  what 
is  esteemed  good  or  bad,  either  in  the  world  or  in  the 
Church,  if  we  belong  to  the  human  race,  we  are  not 
numbered  on  earth  among  those  who  are  saved,  nor 
in  heaven  among  those  who  are  saved,  unless  we  are 
born  again.  If,  in  our  natural  state,  either  in  time 
or  throughout  eternity,  we  seek  or  claim  an  interest 
in  Christ,  he  repels  us,  until,  in  accordance  with  the 
pre-requisite  law  in  our  text,  we  are  born  again. 

Since  such,  then,  is  the  thorough  and  unexcepting 
character  of  the  Saviom-'s  "must  be"  in  the  text,  how 
all-unportant  is  it  for  us  to  understand  what  the  nature 
of  that  change  is  upon  which  our  spiritual  and  eternal 
welfare  depends!  This  is  the  point  which  we  now 
propose  to  determine. 

The  question  before  us  is,  What  is  the  second  hirth  ? 
or  What  is  it  to  he  horn  again  ?  It  may  be  important, 
however,  before  we  positively  say  what  it  is,  to  refer 
to  a  few  things  which  it  is  not.  For  all  will  admit 
that  the  common  notions  on  this  mysterious  matter 
are  exceedingly  confused  and  erroneous.  Every  truly 
renewed  person  will  be  ready  to  testify  how  mistaken 
his  own  views  of  the  subject  were,  before  he  became 
experimentally  acquainted  with  the  nature  of  the  new 


THE  SECOND  BIRTH. II.  171 

birth.  His  intercourse  with  woiidhngs,  too,  has  shown 
him  that  among  them  the  same  misconception  univer- 
sally obtains.  Their  ideas  of  the  change  upon  which 
the  Saviour  insists  are  almost  as  gross  as  those  which 
Nicodemus  formed  of  it,  when  he  heard  it  originally 
insisted  upon  in  our  text.  If  they  are  not  quite  so 
carnal  as  to  suppose  that  the  heart  in  our  bodies  is 
taken  out,  and  another  substituted  in  its  place,  they 
have  at  least  some  dreamy  expectation  that  that  portion 
of  their  souls,  their  spiritual  essence,  which  they  sup- 
pose is  the  seat  of  theu'  affections,  and  which  is  known 
by  the  name  of  "the  heart,"  will  undergo  some  great 
change,  if  they  should  become  the  subjects  of  the  new 
birth.  It  may  be  necessary,  therefore,  for  some  to 
know  that  we  mean  not,  and  that  the  Scripture  does 
not  intend  to  insist  upon  any  change  in  the  whole  or 
in  any  part  of  the  essence  of  the  soul  itself,  when  it 
is  declared  that  we  must  be  born  again.  A  regenerate 
man  is  the  very  same  person  in  the  essence  of  his  soul 
that  he  was  before  he  was  renewed  and  when  he  lived 
in  sin.  St.  Paul  says,  "I  was  before  a  blasphemer, 
and  a  persecutor,  and  injurious :"  and  every  new-born 
soul  has  a  consciousness  that  he  is  identically  the 
same  person  who  said,  and  did,  and  felt  the  sinful 
things  of  which  he  was  guilty  while  he  remained  in 
the  flesh.  Let  none,  therefore,  be  vainly  expecting  a 
change,  either  in  whole  or  in  part,  of  the  substance  of 
his  soul.  This  never  occm^s;  and  such  is  not  the 
second  birth. 

But  again,  we  would  remark,  that  the  second  Mrth 
does  not  consist  in  any  change  of  our  professions.  We 
may  become  convinced  that  our  former  creeds  were 


172  THE  SECOND  BIRTH. 11. 

erroneous,  and  be  brought  to  acknowledge  the  one 
that  is  true.  We  may  have  been  born  and  bred 
heathen,  and  been  induced  to  number  ourselves, 
through  the  appointed  ordinances,  among  Christians ; 
so  we  may  leave  the  ranks  of  mere  moralists,  or  infi- 
dels, or  Roman  Cathohcs,  or  Unitarians,  or  any  other 
errorists,  and  enlist  ourselves  among  the  followers  of 
the  true  Christ ;  and  yet  be  like  Simon  Magus,  who 
deserted  Paganism  and  witchcraft,  was  baptized,  and 
began  to  consort  with  Peter  and  John — although  we 
are  told  that  he  had  neither  part  nor  lot  in  the  matter, 
but  was  still  in  the  gall  of  bitterness  and  in  the  bond 
of  iniquity.  We  are  not,  therefore,  necessarily  new- 
born souls,  because  we  are  the  members  of  an  ortho- 
dox and  true  church. 

Once  more,  reformation  is  not  regeneration.  It  is 
very  true,  that  every  open  and  profligate  transgressor 
leaves  off  his  sins,  and  leads  a  new  life,  whenever  he 
is  born  again.  He  has  a  false  and  unfounded  hope  of 
being  a  child  of  God,  who  does  not  repent  of  his 
iniquities,  and  forsake  them.  But  this  outward, 
amendment  very  frequently  results  from  no  inward 
saving  change.  It  is  sometimes  the  mere  consequence 
of  sordid  calculation.  Keflection,  in  many  cases, 
leads  those  who  have  been  reckless  in  crime,  to  be- 
come in  a  measure  circumspect.  The  swearer  abstains 
from  an  oath;  the  adulterer  becomes  outwardly  chaste; 
the  drunkard  no  longer  indulges  in  his  cups ;  but  stiU 
one  kind  of  sin  has  only  been  exchanged  for  another. 
He  is  merely  more  sober  and  demure  in  his  course  of 
rebelHon  against  heaven,  and  his  heart  is  as  much 
averse  from  God  as  it  ever  was.     Or,  it  may  be,  that 


THE  SECOND  BIRTH. II.  173 

age  has  worked  its  effects ;  liis  desires  have,  in  the 
course  of  time,  become  bkinted ;  he  no  longer  is  capa- 
ble of  taking  jjleasure  in  previous  indulgences ;  and 
he  is  separated  from  his  former  sins,  as  a  tree  drops 
the  fruit  which  rots  and  falls  off— its  own  nature, 
however,  remaining  unchanged,  and  the  sap  which 
circulates  in  it,  and  gives  life  and  character  to  it, 
being  exactly  of  the  same  kind  that  it  was  before.  It 
by  no  means  follows,  therefore,  that  a  reformed  man 
is  a  regenerate  man ;  and  he  who  classes  himself  Avith 
those  who  have  been  born  again,  simply  because  he 
has  left  off  his  old  sins,  and  views  them  as  foohsh 
and  even  criminal,  will  find  in  the  end  that  his  house 
is  not  standing  on  the  foundation  upon  which  he  had 
sujDposed  it  was  built. 

But  again,  we  would  remark,  that  7nani/  of  the  ordi- 
nary gifts  and  graces   of  the   SjjirU  of  God  himself 
shoidd  not  he  mistaken  for  the  new  birth.     The  two 
things  are  entkely  distinct,  and  are  by  no  means  in- 
separable.     There  may  be,   on  the  one  hand,  true 
children  of  God,  who  have  no  mark  by  which  they 
can  be  distinguished  as  such  among  men.     Thus,  the 
apostles  were  undoubtedly  the  subjects  of  the  inward 
and  effectual  operation  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  during 
our  Saviour's  lifetime  and  immediately  subsequent  to 
his  death ;  and  yet  it  was  some  time  before  the  Holy 
Ghost   was   poured   upon   them,   so   that   they  pos- 
sessed and  exercised  the  gifts  of  tongues  and  of  other 
wonders.      Ever   since,  many  an   ungifted   and   ob- 
scure child  of  our  heavenly  Father  has  been  forced 
to    appeal    from    the    severe    and    unjust    decision 
of  men   to  his  testunony  on  high,  and  his   record 


174  THE  SECOND  BIRTH. 11. 

"with  his  God.  While  such  saints,  too,  have  been 
neglected  by  the  world  and  the  church,  many  car- 
nally-minded characters  have  been  extensively  and 
highly  admired  for  those  external  graces  of  the 
Spirit  with  which  they  have  been  adorned.  Judas, 
for  instance,  had  the  grace  of  apostleship,  and  it 
cannot  be  doubted  that  he  possessed  many  powers 
which  made  him  an  object  of  envy ;  yet  our  Lord 
knew  from  the  beginning  who  it  was  who  should 
betray  him.  There  were  some,  too,  who  preached 
Christ  in  such  a  way  as  to  make  St.  Paul  rejoice ; 
and  yet  they  did  it  only  through  contention  and  for 
strife. 

We  should  not  be  astonished,  therefore,  w^hen  all 
the  mysteries  of  the  divine  word  seem  to  be  under- 
stood by  those  whose  hearts  have  not  been  affected 
by  the  revelation ;  nor,  where  some  possess  a  talent 
for  preaching  and  a  gift  in  prayer;  nay,  exercise  these 
endowments  with  the  tongues  of  men  and  almost  of 
angels,  and  yet  are  only  sounding  brass  and  tinkhng 
cymbals. 

Let  none,  then,  build  his  hope  upon  the  office  which 
he  fills,  or  the  talents  he  exercises  in  the  house  of 
God.  In  the  language  of  an  old  bishop  of  our  church, 
"  Gifts  prove  nothing ;  they  may  be  but  the  gilding 
of  a  rotten  post,  the  varnish  of  a  corrupt  heart.  As 
it  was  the  custom  of  old  to  crown  those  beasts'  heads 
with  garlands  of  flowers,  that  were  ordained  to  be  a 
sacrifice,  so  God  may  sometimes  crown  the  heads  of 
wicked  men  with  flowery  parts  and  gifts,  whom  yet 
he  intends  to  make  a  sacrifice  to  his  wrath  and 
justice." 


THE  SECOND  BIRTH. II.  175 

But  we  would  call  upon  you  to  distinguish,  finally, 
hehveen  the  second  hirtli  and  tJiose  raftures  and  ecstasies 
with  ivhich  it  is  frequentlg  confounded.  Far  be  it  from 
us  to  intimate,  that  the  genuine  work  of  the  Spirit  of 
God  upon  the  heart,  is  not  sometimes  accompanied 
with  the  most  extravagant  actions  on  the  part  of  its 
subject.  But  even  in  such  cases,  these  extravagances 
are  no  fruit  of  the  Spirit,  but  result  from  the  infirmity 
of  the  creature  \  and  they  should  never  be  counte- 
nanced, but  rather  protested  against,  by  every  sober 
and  enlightened  child  of  God.  In  themselves,  they 
lead  only  to  evil,  and  they  frequently  induce  the  mis- 
guided to  build  a  hope  which  perisheth  with  those 
temporary  and  evanescent  feelings  upon  which  it  was 
founded.  What,  indeed,  is  better  calculated  to  fill  the 
soul  with  rapture,  than  some  mistaken  views  of  the 
Gospel,  which  lead  it  to  suppose  that  it  has  an  interest 
in  Christ;  and  having  thus  obtained  the  pardon  of 
sin,  has  escaped  all  fear  of  hell,  and  is  entitled  to 
peace  with  God,  and  an  inheritance  among  the  saints 
in  Ught!  The  most  unseemly  exhibitions  have  re- 
sulted from  such  misappropriations  of  the  blessings  of 
the  Gospel.  The  uninitiated  have  thus  conceived 
that  heaven  has  almost  been  begun  in  the  hearts  of 
some  who,  in  a  little  while,  are  reported  to  have  fallen 
from  grace. 

Let  none,  therefore,  rely  upon  such  raptures  as 
proof  of  the  second  birth ;  but  let  them  rather  try 
this  spirit  by  some  scriptural  test,  and  ascertain 
whether  it  be  of  God.  On  the  other  hand,  let  none 
deny  and  denounce  the  whole  doctrine  of  the  second 
birth,  because   these    extravagances   are   sometimes 


176  THE  SECOND  BIRTH. II. 

identified  with  it.  For  they  will  thus  place  under 
their  ban  the  most  sober  and  scriptural  minds.  Nor 
are  we  to  be  driven  from  insisting  upon  the  doctrine 
of  the  new  birth,  because  some  would  class  us  on  this 
account  among  enthusiasts  and  fanatics.  For  even 
our  Saviour  was  regarded  by  many  of  the  most  moral 
and  highly  esteemed  of  his  day,  as  "beside  himself;" 
and  Paul  was  denounced  by  a  Roman  governor  as 
"  mad ;"  and  the  Author  of  the  Book  of  Wisdom  very 
Scripturally  forewarns  such  persons,  that  the  time  will 
come  when  they  shall  change  their  tone,  and  say,  in 
the  trouble  of  their  minds,  This  is  he  whom  we  ac- 
counted a  scorn  and  a  common  reproach;  we  fools 
esteemed  his  Hfe  madness,  and  his  latter  end  to  have 
been  shameful;  but  how  is  he  reckoned  among  the 
sons  of  God,  and  his  lot  is  among  the  holy  ones  ? 

But,  as  we  have  thus  distinguished  the  second  birth 
from  many  things  which  it  is  not ;  let  us  now  point 
out  what  it  positively  is. 

What  is  it,  then,  to  he  lorn  again  ?  To  this  we  an- 
swer, It  is  for  our  souls  to  have  an  interest  in  Christ  as 
our  Head ;  and  to  he  renewed  into  his  image  in  our 
minds  and  hearts. 

This  definition  very  naturally  divides  itself  into  two 
parts ;  the  first  of  which  is  that,  as  neiv-horn  souls,  tve 
must  have  an  interest  in  Christ  as  our  Head.  That  he 
who  has  been  born  again  does  sustain  such  a  relation 
to  Christ,  no  Scriptural  mind  doubts,  and  that  the 
forming  of  this  relationship  is  a  part  of  the  second 
birth,  will  readily  appear.  But  Httle,  however,  is 
generally  made  of  this  point  in  this  connection.  To 
be  thus  joined  with  Christ,  has  been  usually  supposed 


THE  SECOND  BIRTH. — II.  177 

to  be  a  part  of  oiir  justification  before  God,  and  to  be 
an  immediate  effect  of  faith.    It  has  been  thus  left  for 
the  most  part  for  the  consideration  of  those  who  are 
treating  on  these  subjects.    The  consequence  has  been, 
that  the  whole   doctrine  of  the  second  bii'th  is  fre- 
quently discussed  with  little  or  no  reference  to  Christ; 
that  it  has  been  made  to  consist  almost  exclusive^ 
of  a  change  in  our  affections,  and  of  our  being  re- 
newed into  that  image  of  God  which  we  lost  by  the 
fall.    The  source  of  this  great  change,  it  is  true,  every 
evangelical  minister  always  insists  is  the   Spirit  of 
God;  but  the  Spiiit  is  seldom  presented  in  this  opera- 
tion of  regenerating  the  soul,  as  the  representative  of 
Christ,  and  as  thus  uniting  the  subject  of  the  work  to 
Christ,  as  the  member  of  the  body  is  joined  to  its 
head.     It  is  only  the  restitution  of  the  image  which 
Adam  lost,  that  is  insisted  upon ;  and  hence  the  doc- 
trine of  the  second  birth  has  been  painfully  felt  by 
many  a  tender  Christian  conscience,  as  somewhat  legal 
in  its  features,  as  requiring  a  renewal  of  holiness  in 
the  heart  before  the  ungodly  can  be  accepted  by  God, 
and  being  thus  antagonistic  to  the  free  grace  and  sal- 
vation which  are  to  be  found  in  Christ.     This  misap- 
prehension, however,  results,  as  we  have  intimated, 
from  only  a  partial  presentation  of  the  subject  by  the 
preacher.     If  the  paternity  of  Christ,  in  treating  of 
the  second  birth,  were  always  kept  prominently  in 
view,  no  such  impression  would  be  left  on  any  evan- 
gelical mind. 

We  would,  therefore,  at  this  point,  without  any  re- 
ference to  the  Spirit  of  God  as  the  great  agent  by  which 
this  connection  is  formed  between  Christ  and  the  soul, 
12 


178  THE  SECOND  BIRTH. II. 

(for  that  will  come  up  under  a  subsequent  head,)  call 
upon  you  to  note,  that  in  the  second  Urth,  CJmst  he- 
comes  the  Father  and  Head  of  the  new  creature.  Every 
child  must  have  a  father ;  and  in  the  spiritual  world, 
this  holds  as  true  as  it  does  in  the  visible  world.  We 
have  seen,  too,  in  our  previous  discourse,  that  all 
children  have  the  same  natural  spiritual  father,  even 
fallen  Adam ;  that  the  guilt  of  his  original  transgres- 
sion is  ours,  and  that  his  corrupt  character  is  ours ; 
and  ours,  moreover,  by  the  mere  fact  of  our  first  birth. 
No  one  can  understand  the  natural  spiritual  condition 
of  any  man  born  into  this  world,  who  leaves  out  of 
view  his  connection  with  fallen  Adam.  Adam  begot 
children  in  his  own  likeness ;  and  the  Scripture  is  ex- 
plicit, that  "as  by  the  disobedience  of  one,  many  were 
made  sinners,  even  so,  by  the  obedience  of  one,  shall 
many  be  made  righteous."  "As  in  Adam  all  die, 
even  so  in  Christ  shall  all  be  made  alive." 

Our  first  birth  is  a  natural  descent  from  Adam, 
placing  us  in  his  train,  where  we  follow  his  steps  and 
meet  with  his  curses.  Our  second  birth  is  a  super- 
natural descent  from  Christ,  by  which  we  derive  spi- 
ritual life  and  aU  the  blessings  of  redemption.  No 
man,  unless  he  be  in  Christ,  is  a  new  creature.  We 
insist,  therefore,  that  a  part  of  the  second  birth  is  the 
change  of  our  federal  headship ;  that  which  we  have 
by  nature  for  that  which  is  conferred  by  grace ;  that 
which  we  have  in  Adam  for  that  which  is  to  be  found 
in  Christ. 

Do  you  ask  me.  What  this  Federal  Headship  of 
Christ  consists  in,  and  what  it  confers  ?  Brethren,  we 
deny  not  that  there  is  a  visible  headship  of  Christ,  by 


THE  SECOND  BIRTH. II.  179 

wliicli  he  seems  to  be,  when  he  is  not  really,  our  head; 
by  which  those  who  are  nothing  more  than  mere 
natural  children  of  the  first  Adam,  comply  with  all 
the  ordinances  through  which  they  are  introduced  into 
the  company  of  those  who  appear  to  be  members  of 
Christ's  mystical  body ;  by  which  they  become  par- 
takers of  many  outward  means  of  grace,  though  they 
are  strangers  to  its  inward  blessings ;  by  which  they 
have  every  external  claim  to  the  title  of  the  children 
of  the  kingdom,  while  in  spirit  and  in  truth  they  are 
aliens. 

But  this  is  not  the  headship,  a  share  of  which  forms 
part  of  the  second  birth.  Neither  we,  nor  the  Scrip- 
tures, know  anything  in  this  connection,  of  having  a 
headship  in  Christ,  which  does  not  consist  in  his  being 
our  actual  spiritual  Father,  as  truly  so  as  Adam  is  our 
natural  father — not  sacramentally  such,  but  really 
such — begetting  us,  not  by  outward  signs  in  the  sight 
of  men,  but  doing  it  really  before  the  eyes  of  angels ; 
not  bestowing  upon  us  visible  means  of  grace,  which 
may  prove  to  us  either  blessings  or  curses,  as  we 
improve  or  abuse  them,  but  precious  gifts  enjoyed  by 
our  souls ;  not  enduing  us  with  one  hand  in  time,  with 
that,  which  he  will  take  away  with  the  other  in  eter- 
nity, but  enriching  us  through  our  endless  existence. 
It  is  that  headship  in  Christ  Jesus,  through  which 
there  is  no  condemnation  to  them  who  possess  it;  the 
law  of  the  spirit  of  life  in  Christ  Jesus  making  them 
free  from  the  law  of  sin  and  death. 

We  insist,  then,  that  it  is  a  prominent  and  glorious 
part  of  the  second  birth,  for  us  to  be  brought  into  a 
spiritually  filial  relation  to  Christ,  to  be  translated 


180  THE  SECOND  BIRTH. — II. 

from  the  ranks  of  the  children  of  the  first  Adam  into 
those  of  the  second  Adam ;  to  be  thus  relieyed  from 
the  guilt  and  curses  of  the  first  man  who  is  of  the 
earth,  and  introduced  to  the  blessings  purchased  by 
the  second  man  who  is  the  Lord  from  heaven.  It 
may  not  suit  the  theories  and  systems  of  precise  and 
philosophical  divines,  but  there  is  much  scriptural 
doctrine  in  that  prayer  of  our  baptismal  service,  in 
which  we  are  led  to  ask  for  the  candidate,  that  he 
may  obtain  "  the  remission  of  his  sins  by  spiritual  re- 
generation." What  a  glorious  change,  therefore,  does 
the  second  birth  involve,  when  through  it  we  are 
brought  into  the  same  relationship  to  the  only-begot- 
ten Son  of  God,  which  we  had  naturally  sustained  to 
a  fallen  creature ! 

But  we  woidd  now  have  you  note,  in  the  last  j)lace, 
that  this  second  birth  implies  that  ive  he  also  changed 
in  oiw  hearts  and  minds  into  the  image  of  Christ.  Some, 
we  know,  would  choose  to  tell  you  under  tliis  head,  in 
very  learned  and  philosophical  terms,  of  the  mode  in 
which  the  faculties  of  the  soul  are  affected  by  this 
great  spiritual  change,  and  to  treat  in  the  abstract,  of 
those  habits  of  grace  and  virtue  which  are  imparted 
to  our  renewed  natures.  We  do  not  object,  indeed, 
to  this  mode  of  discussion,  at  other  times  and  in  other 
places  than  the  present — for  it  has  its  uses — provided 
always,  that  aU  that  is  said  be  in  complete  subordina- 
tion to  the  word  of  God.  But  this  suits  not  our  pur- 
pose now,  and,  indeed,  we  always  leave  it  to  other 
hands. 

There  are  others,  too,  who  would  prefer  to  speak  of 
the  character  of  unfallen  Adam,  as  that  into  which  we 


THE  SECOND  BIRTH. — II.  181 

are  renewed  in  the  second  bii'tli ;  but  we  know  very 
little  of  Adam  in  his  first  estate,  except  generally  that 
he  was  holy,  and  in  the  likeness  of  God.  And  if  any 
are  disposed  to  talk  of  God,  apart  from  that  manifesta- 
tion and  exemphfication  of  his  will  and  character  which 
have  been  given  us  in  the  life  of  Christ,  we  would 
check  ourselves  from  being  misled  by  their  show  of 
wisdom,  by  the  remembrance  of  St.  Paul's  warning  : 
"  The  world  by  wisdom  knew  not  God."  No,  brethren, 
all  that  we  desire  to  know— all  that  fallen  man  can 
truly  know  of  the  character  of  God,  is  taught,  and 
has  been  exemplified  by  Christ.  Neither  does  it 
appear,  that  if  we  were  only  renewed  into  the  image 
of  unfallen  Adam,  we  would  partake  of  one  tithe  of 
the  blessings  in  which  we  share  by  bearing  the  linea- 
ments of  the  only-begotten  of  the  Father,  manifest  in 
flesh.  Let  it  be,  therefore,  our  privilege  and  salvation 
to  view  the  second  birth  as  the  transformation  of  our 
hearts  and  minds  into  the  image  of  Christ. 

Look,  now,  at  tlie  character  of  Christ,  and  then,  I 
know,  you  will  ask,  Ho2v  can  any  imperfect  man  he  con- 
sidered as  moidded  into  that  likeness  ?  What  shall  we 
^ay  of  him  who  so  loved  righteousness,  that  God 
anointed  him  with  the  oil  of  gladness  above  his  fel- 
lows ? — of  that  character  with  which  the  holy  Father 
did  not  hesitate  to  declare  he  was  well  pleased?  Only 
a  few  of  its  lines  can  be  here  imperfectly  drawn,  but 
they  shall  be  such  as  to  convey  some  conception  of 
the  attractive  whole. 

As  he  looks  upon  Jesus,  then,  who  does  not  feel 
that  he  is  in  the  presence  of  one  who,  though  in  his 
lower  nature  a  creature,  is  as  ^^wx  in  liis  eyes  and 


182  THE  SECOND  BIRTH. II. 

heart  as  God  himself?  He  knew  no  sin,  even  in  a 
glance,  or  thought,  or  wish,  and  of  course  not  in  word 
or  deed.  Being,  too,  of  his  own  will,  placed  under 
the  law,  he  shrank  not  from  universal  obedience. 
There  were  with  him  no  reserves.  He  did  not  many 
things,  and  then  turned  back,  when  he  had  to 
encounter  crucifixion.  He  "learned,"  that  is,  he 
went  through  the  experience  of  obedience,  "  by  the 
things  which  he  suffered."  His  delight,  also,  was  in 
the  service  of  God,  and  in  communion  with  his  hea- 
venly Father.  He  had  meat  to  eat,  which  others 
knew  not  of  j  it  was  doing  the  will  of  him  that  sent 
him.  And  while  others  were  seeking  and  enjoying 
natural  rest,  he  spent  nights  in  prayer. 

How  pcdient,  mceJc,  and  mercifid,  likewise,  was  his 
spirit !  Throughout  his  whole  hfe,  how  he  endured 
the  contradiction  against  himself  of  open  enemies  and 
of  imperfect  followers  !  How  he  passed  through  the 
scene  of  mocking,  spitting,  and  smiting  in  the  judg- 
ment-hall! He  answered  not  reviling.  He  was  led 
as  a  lamb  to  the  slaughter;  and  as  a  sheep  dumb  before 
his  shearer,  he  opened  not  his  mouth.  He  prayed  for 
the  most  unfeehng  murderers,  "  Father,  forgive  them." 
He  appealed  in  all  the  anguish,  but  without  any  of 
the  sin,  of  despair,  to  the  Father  who  had  withdrawn 
himself,  with  this  piteous  cry :  "  My  God,  my  God, 
why  hast  thou  forsaken  me  T  though  he  knew  full 
well  that  his  own  personal  merits  entitled  him  to  sit 
upon  the  throne  in  heaven,  enjoying  the  smiling  and 
shining  presence  of  his  Father's  face. 

Though  ordained,  too,  to  tread  such  a  wine-press, 
we  would  call  upon  you  also  to  note,  that  Jesus  knew 


THE  SECOND  BIRTH. II.  183 

no  faulty  fear.  He  was  sometimes  inexpressibly  strait- 
ened till  that  was  accomplished  which  he  had  to  meet. 
His  soul  was  once  troubled  unto  death ;  he  is  even 
said  to  have  "  feared"  to  such  a  degree  that  "  strong 
crying  and  tears"  were  wrung  from  him;  but  though 
the  flesh  trembled  under  what  it  knew  God  could  do, 
yet  the  spirit  was  willing  to  endure  what  God  would 
do ;  and  he  yielded  to  no  fear  which  prompted  him  to 
flee  from  even  a  wrathful  God ;  and  as  to  what  men 
could  do,  so  much  above  our  race  was  he  exalted,  that 
he  knew  no  temptation  to  resist  the  evil  they  could  do. 

Finally,  in  that  combination  and  workmanship  of  all 
the  other  graces,  luisclom,  how  exalted  and  divine  was 
Christ !  How  fitly  spoken  were  his  words !  how  effec- 
tive were  his  acts  !  how  melting  were  his  looks  !  "  In 
him  were  hid  all  the  treasures  of  wisdom."  In  thy 
whole  history  and  character,  Jesus,  thou  art  grace  and 
love !  Truly,  in  these  as  well  as  in  thy  person,  "thou 
art  the  Son  of  God ;  thou  art  the  brightness  of  the 
Father's  glory,  and  the  express  image  of  his  person !" 

Do  any  at  this  point  shrink  from  considering  the 
Scriptures  as  teaching  that  the  subject  of  the  second 
birth  is  renewed  into  the  likeness  of  such  infinite  per- 
fection? But  can  the  Scriptures  on  this  point  be  more 
exphcit  than  they  are  ?  Are  we  not  told,  that  God 
"predestinated  those  whom  he  foreknew  to  be  con- 
formed to  the  image  of  his  Son?"  and  that  they  "all, 
with  open  face,  beholding  as  in  a  glass  the  glory  of 
the  Lord,  are  changed  into  the  same  image  ?"  Do  we 
not  read,  that  "Christ  is  formed  in"  such;  that  "Jesus 
Christ  is  in"  them?  Are  we  not  exhorted  to  "let  the 
same  mind  be  in  us,  which  was  also  in  Christ  Jesus  T 


184  THE  SECOND  BIRTH. II. 

And  does  not  our  master  and  Lord  inform  us,  that 
'•  lie  has  given  us  an  example  that  we  should  follow 
his  steps  ?" 

Into  a  living  image,  therefore,  of  the  spotless  and 
obedient,  and  lamb-like,  and  forgiving,  and  courageous, 
and  trusting,  and  wise,  and  entirely  gracious  Spirit 
that  was  in  Christ,  is  every  subject  of  the  second 
birth  renewed.  Upon  nothing  short  of  this  does  the 
Word  of  God  insist.  No  feature  in  the  character  of 
Jesus  must  be  wanting  in  that  of  the  new  creature. 
In  each  and  all  of  its  parts,  the  latter  must  be  con- 
formed to  the  former.  The  Son  is  "the  first-born 
among  many  brethren." 

Some,  however,  will  here  be  disposed  to  doubt 
whether,  according  to  this  standard,  any  of  the  fallen 
sons  of  men  have  ever  been  born  again.  But  let  none 
of  the  children,  whom  God  has  given  to  Christ,  be  sad, 
as  though  this  second  Adam  had  not  begotten  them 
into  his  own  likeness,  because  the  image  shines  not 
with  the  brightness  of  the  original;  nay,  is  sometimes 
so  dimly  reflected,  that  they  are  scarcely  conscious 
of  its  existence  within  themselves. 

Oh !  there  is  abundant  cause  for  every  imperfection 
which  is  exhibited  by  the  new-born  child  of  God, 
while  he  continues  to  tabernacle  in  the  flesh  !  Two 
natures  abide  within  him — the  new  and  the  old,  the 
flesh  and  the  Spirit — and  these  are  contrary  the  one 
to  the  other,  and  lust  against  each  other ;  so  that  he 
cannot  do  the  things  that  he  would.  Nay,  what  he 
would  not,  that  he  does,  and  what  he  does  not,  that 
he  would.  Yea,  even  while  he  serves  with  his  flesh 
the  law  of  sin,  he  deUghts  in  the  law  of  the  Lord 


THE  SECOND  BIRTH. II.  185 

after  the  inner  man.  What  a  body  of  inconsistency 
and  contradiction  is  that  child  of  the  first  Adam  Avhom 
the  second  Adam  hath  begotten  again  into  his  own 
likeness !  Viewed  in  one  aspect,  he  is  more  than  an 
angel ;  while,  if  yon  look  upon  him  in  another  light, 
and  at  another  time,  he  may  appear  to  be  like  his 
natural  flxther,  the  wicked  one.  What  conflicts  are 
often  w^aged  between  the  new  and  the  old  man !  What 
groanings  are  continually  WTung  from  the  racked  spirit, 
though  it  be  now  one  of  the  sons  of  God,  yet  restless 
and  dissatisfied,  until  Jesus  shall  appear,  and  it  shall 
be  like  him  whom  it  shall  then  see  as  he  is. 

In  the  meanwhile,  however,  though  babes  in  Christ, 
we  still  live ;  we  have  the  lineaments  of  him  who  hath 
begotten  us ;  Ave  are  sound  and  whole  in  every  limb ; 
and  we  shall  grow  up  into  the  statm-e  of  perfect  men 
in  Christ  Jesus.  Though  the  serpent  often  bruisie 
the  heel  of  the  promised  seed  of  the  woman  within 
us,  yet  that  seed  shall  shortly  bruise  the  head  of  the 
serpent  under  his  own  and  our  feet.  From  every 
trouble  Christ  will  deliver  us ;  from  every  fall  he  will 
raise  us ;  from  every  conflict  we  shall  come  out  more 
than  conquerors.  For  though  the  members  be  guilty 
in  themselves,  yet  are  they  accepted  in  their  head ; 
though  the  sons  be  weak  and  imperfect,  yet  shall  they 
be  brought  to  glory  by  the  captain  of  salvation ;  since 
we  are  born  not  of  corruptible  seed,  but  of  incorrupt- 
ible, even  of  that  word  of  God  which  liveth  and 
abideth  in  us  for  ever,  and  which  was  w^itli  God  and 
was  God.  We  shall  awake  up  hereafter,  satisfied 
with  that  likeness  which  we  shall  bear  to  him  who 
hath  begotten  us.     In  the  meanwhile,  let  us  grow  up 


186  THE  SECOND  BIRTH. II. 

into  that  image,  and  proceed  from  strength  to  strength, 
and  from  glory  to  glory,  even  as  by  the  Spirit  of  the 
Lord. 

But  while  some  of  us  are  here  raising  our  Ebenezer, 
in  view  of  what  God  hath  wrought  in  us,  and  of  the 
prospects  with  which  he  hath  crowned  us,  are  there 
any  of  us  who  are  still  laboring  under  the  guilt,  and 
necessity,  and  woe,  which  are  inherited  from  the  first 
Adam ;  and  as  we  look  to  the  second  Adam,  do  we 
hear  him  say,  "  If  you  would  enter  my  kingdom,  ye 
must  be  born  again  ?  I  must  become  your  father  and 
head,  and  ye  must  be  changed  into  my  image  ?"  In 
anguish  does  any  one  turn  and  ask.  Through  what 
agency,  hj  zvhat  means,  can  I  lecome  a  subject  of  this 
second  hirth  ?  This  is  the  question  which  we  propose 
to  answer  next. 

Note. — The  third  and  concluding  Sermon  on  the  Second  Birth,  waa 
little  more  than  begun  by  our  beloved  friend,  -when  he  was  laid  aside 
from  all  earthly  labor,  by  his  last  illness. — Editors. 


SEMON  XIII. 


AN  APPEAL  FOR  OUR  SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 


Gen.  svii.  18. 
"And  Abraham  said  unto  God,  0  that  Ishmael  might  live  before 

THEE  I" 

There  is  something  peculiarly  touching  in  the  inter- 
views of  God  with  the  patriarch  who  offered  this 
prayer.  They  authorized  the  pious  Jehoshaphat,  as  you 
will  see  in  2  Chronicles  xx.  7,  to  denominate  him  God's 
"friend,"  long  before  there  was  any  direct,  divine  sanc- 
tion for  his  receiving  such  a  title.  In  the  above  pas- 
sage— one  of  his  public  addresses  to  the  Almighty — 
this  excellent  Jewish  monarch  thus  expresses  himself: 
"  Art  not  thou  our  God,  who  didst  drive  out  the  in- 
habitants of  this  land  before  thy  people  Israel,  and 
gavest  it  to  the  seed  of  Abraham,  thy  friend,  for 
ever  ?"  And  God  was  pleased,  in  after  years,  to  affix 
the  seal  of  his  approbation  to  this  honorable  distinc- 
tion of  "the  Father  of  the  faithful,"  and  to  show 
that  the  appropriation  of  this  name  to  him  by  Jehosha- 
phat, was  suggested  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  when  he 
thus  spoke  to  his  people,  through  Isaiah  the  prophet, 
chapter  xli.  8  :  "  Thou,  Israel,  art  my  servant  Jacob, 
whom  I  have  chosen,  the  seed  of  Abraham  my 
friend." 


188  AN  APPEAL  FOR  OUR  SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

The  aptness  and  divine  origin  of  this  appellation 
forthwith  gave  it  currency  in  the  household  of  faith ; 
and  Abraham,  according  to  St.  James  ii.  23,  "was 
called  the  friend  of  God."  Although,  then,  "such 
honor  have  all  his  saints" — for  we  read  in  the  Gospel 
of  John  XV.  14,  these  words  of  our  gracious  Saviour 
to  his  disciples,  "  Ye  are  my  friends" — yet  this  name, 
"the  friend  of  God,"  is  our  patriarch's,  by  way  of 
eminence.  If  we  would  perform  the  duties,  and  enjoy 
the  privileges,  which  friendship  with  God  involves, 
we  must  look  to  the  intercourse  which  Abraham  had 
with  his  "  friend,"  as  our  model.  And  surely  it  is 
enough  to  make  the  heart  of  every  one  of  the  "  spirit- 
ual seed  of  Abraham"  leap  for  joy,  as  he  reads  the 
inspired  account  of  the  several  interviews  which  took 
place  between  the  unequal  parties,  who  were  bound  to 
each  other  by  these  close  and  blessed  ties !  Such  in- 
conceivably simple  condescension  on  the  part  of  the 
High  and  Holy  One — the  inhabitant  of  eternity,  the 
dweller  in  the  high  and  holy  place — so  unreserved 
in  his  communications,  so  thoughtful  of  the  wishes 
and  interests  of  his  fallen  creature  and  companion; 
and  in  the  latter,  such  humble  consciousness  of  being 
"  dust  and  ashes ;"  such  implicit  obedience  to  the  most 
trying  commands;  such  unaffected  gladness  in  the 
reception  of  the  promises  !  Our  chapter  abounds 
with  instances  of  the  kind ;  and  our  text  itself  shows 
the  kind  of  relationship  and  intercourse  which  existed 
between  God  and  his  "  friend." 

At  the  suggestion  of  Sarah,  and  through  what 
we  are  constrained  to  admit  as  the  mere  human 
wisdom  of  Abraham,  he  had  become  the  father  of 


AN  APPEAL  FOR  OUR  SUNDAY-SCHOOL.  189 

Ishmael  by  Ilagar,  liis  wife's  maid.  This  "  son  of  the 
bondwoman"  had  now  attained  the  age  of  thirteen, 
and  had,  as  appears  from  the  entire  narrative,  installed 
himself  in  the  paternal  heart  of  onr  patriarch.  He 
was,  too,  thus  far,  evidently  regarded  by  his  now  ven- 
erable parent,  as  "  the  child  of  promise."  But  the 
interview  with  God,  which  our  chapter  records,  had 
dashed  these  hopes,  and  taught  Abraham  to  expect 
the  inheritor  of  the  blessing  through  his  aged  wife. 

Always  gladly  yielding  liis  own  wishes  to  the 
determinations  of  his  heavenly  "  friend,"  Abraham  ex- 
pressed his  dehght  at  receivmg  this  divine  communi- 
cation in  all  the  simplicity  of  his  guileless  heart,  wdth 
laughter,  and  by  ejaculations  of  astonishment  at  so 
unexpected  and  blessed  an  announcement.  And  then, 
as  if  mindful  of  his  beloved  son,  whose  prospects  had 
been  so  effectually  blighted,  he  uttered  the  prayerful 
exclamation  in  our  text :  "  Oh !  that  Ishmael  might 
live  before  thee !" 

We  are  forbidden,  as  it  would  seem,  by  the  entire 
history  of  the  event,  and  by  numerous  passages  of 
Holy  Writ,  which  commend  this  "  friend  of  God"  for 
not  having  "  staggered  at  the  promise  through  unbe- 
lief," from  admitting  that  very  general  construction  of 
our  text,  which  regards  it  as  a  wish  on  the  part  of 
Abraham  for  an  alteration  in  the  divine  purpose  which 
had  just  been  revealed — for  the  prevention  of  the 
birth  of  Isaac,  and  for  the  securement  of  the  ^iyo- 
mised  blessing  to  the  son  already  born.  All  that 
we  are  prepared  to  concede  on  this  subject — and 
we  gather  this  from  the  explicit  answer  which  the 
prayer  received  from  God — is,  that  the  affectionate 


190  AN  APPEAL  FOR  OUR  SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

parent  desired  Islimael  to  be  connected  with  Isaac, 
perhaps  as  the  other  eleven  sons  of  Jacob  were  after- 
wards associated  with  Judah,  in  the  reception  of  the 
promise.  This,  however,  God  denied,  and  gave  Abra- 
ham to  understand  that  his  covenant  should  only  be 
established  with  the  son  whom  Sarah  should  bear. 
But,  that  even  this  wish  for  Ishmael  to  be  allowed  a 
subordinate  interest  in  the  promise,  did  not  exhaust 
the  intention  of  our  patriarch  in  his  prayer,  is  evident 
from  the  words  of  God's  reply:  "As  for  Ishmael," 
said  God,  "  I  have  heard  thee ;  behold,  I  have  blessed 
him,  and  will  make  him  fruitful,  and  will  multiply 
him  exceedingly." 

It  would  seem,  then,  that  in  the  most  important 
particular,  God  had  comphed  with  Abraham's  request. 
He  had  heard  and  granted  his  friend's  petition  in 
behalf  of  Ishmael.  And  we  freely  admit,  that  to  a 
carnal  and  unscriptural  mind,  the  words  of  God's 
reply  appear  to  insure  to  the  lad  only  a  numerous  off- 
spring and  great  temporal  prosperity.  But  he  who  is 
weU  read  in  the  language  and  the  fulfilment  of  the 
promises  in  this  patriarchal  age,  knows  that  earthly 
blessings  were  typical  of  those  which  were  spiritual 
and  eternal,  and  that  to  the  sense  of  faith,  the  first 
were  but  an  earnest  of  the  last. 

When,  therefore,  God  pledges  himself  to  multiply 
and  enrich  Ishmael  in  worldly  things,  it  by  no  means 
precludes,  but  rather  encom-ages  the  expectation  of 
more  precious  and  lasting  blessings.  Thus,  in  Abra- 
ham's case,  the  earthly  Canaan  typified  the  heavenly 
land,  and  myriads  of  natural  descendants  were  but  the 
token  and  pledge  of  a  numerous  spiritual  seed.  When, 


AN  APPEAL  FOR  OUR  SUNDAY-SCHOOL.  191 

in  addition,  we  consider  the  natural  yearnings  of  our 
affectionate  patriarch  towards  his  at  present  only  son, 
— ^the  estimate  which  his  pre-eminently  spiritual  mind 
had  formed  of  the  blessedness  of  friendship  and  com- 
munion with  God, — it  would  seem  unwarrantable  to 
allow  that  he  included  not  a  desii'e  in  our  prayer  for 
the  eternal  salvation  of  his  child,  who  seemed  about, 
in  God's  purpose,  to  become  an  outcast  for  life,  and  in 
the  world  to  come. 

Let  a  comparison  of  Scripture  with  Scripture,  too, 
interpret  the  wording  of  our  text;  and  while  we  admit, 
that  it  may  legitimately  be  allowed  to  contain  a  wish 
for  Ishmael's  success  in  life,  and  for  his  being  con- 
nected with  that  promise  which  in  the  event  was 
ultimately  confined  to  Isaac,  yet  we  insist  that  the 
main  design  of  the  prayer  was  to  insure,  in  behalf  of 
the  child,  the  spiritual  and  everlasting  blessings  of 
God's  saving  grace.  "And  Abraham  said  unto  God," 
when  he  found  that  he  was  to  be  discomfited  in  aU  the 
plans  of  his  earthly  wisdom  to  fulfil  the  divine  pur- 
poses, and  that  the  child  of  liis  affections  and  hopes 
had  been  rejected  as  the  heu"  of  the  promise — he  said, 
with  the  fearful  prospect  before  him  of  his  beloved 
child's  remaining  estranged  from  himself  and  his 
Almighty  "friend,"  in  both  worlds,  "Oh!  that  Ish- 
mael  might  live  before  thee." 

But  are  we  not  here  giving  too  spiritual  an  inter- 
pretation to  the  word  "  five  ?"  Are  we  borne  out  in 
our  views  of  the  word  by  other  Scriptures  ?  Let  us 
see.  Brethren,  Jesus  said  unto  Martha :  "  I  am  the 
resurrection  and  the  life;  he  that  believeth  in  me, 
though  he  were  dead,  yet  shall  he  live ;  and  whoso- 


192  AN  APPEAL  FOR  OUR  SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

ever  livetli  and  belie vetli  in  me,  shall  never  die."  We 
are  told  by  St.  Paul,  that  God  quickeneth  those  who 
are  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins. 

And  to  mention  but  one  more  Scripture  of  the  kind, 
— the  parallels  of  which  abound, — ^the  Church  is  thus 
addressed  by  God,  through  Ezekiel :  "  When  I  passed 
by  thee,  and  saw  thee  polluted  in  thine  own  blood,  I 
said  unto  thee,  when  thou  wast  in  thy  blood.  Live ; 
yea,  I  said  unto  thee,  when  thou  wast  in  thy  blood, 
Live."  What  other  conclusion,  then,  can  be  reached, 
concerning  the  meaning  of  our  text,  especially  where 
the  enlightened  supphcant  not  only  prays  that  his 
child  might  live,  but  that  he  might  live  before  God  ? 
We  doubt  not,  therefore,  but  that  Abraham  in  our 
text  chiefly  desired  the  conversion  and  salvation  of 
his  child ;  it  was  his  request  that  his  son  might  be 
quickened  in  the  inner  man,  and  hve  in  the  enjoyment 
of  God's  presence  and  love.  And  if  such  were  the 
j)etition.  there  is  no  room  to  question  the  result.  "As 
for  Ishmael,"  said  God,  "I  have  heard  thee;  behold, 
I  have  blessed  him." 

We  know  there  are  declarations  in  the  word  of  God, 
and  also  a  recorded  fact,  which  woidd  seem  counter 
to  the  charitable  conclusion  we  have  reached.  Thus, 
Hagar  is  foretold,  that  "the  hand  of  the  son  whom 
she  should  bear"  would  be  against  every  man,  and 
every  man's  hand  against  him.  But  as  Isaac  inher- 
ited the  promises  not  in  himself,  but  in  his  posterity, 
so  this  prophecy  respecting  the  son  of  Hagar  was 
fulfilled  only  in  his  children ;  since  it  is  evident  from 
the  Scripture,  that  Ishmael  lived  and  died  in  quiet- 
ness and  peace  among  his  brethren.    Nor  is  there  any 


AN  APPEAL  FOR  OUR  SUNDAY-SCHOOL.  193 

difficulty  in  disposing  of  the  fact  which  is  alleged 
against  the  hope  that  Ishmael  became  ultimately  a 
child  of  God.  It  is  true,  we  read  that  at  the  circum- 
cision of  Isaac,  Ishmael  mocked ;  which,  under  all  the 
circumstances,  must  be  considered  as  betraying  disre- 
spect towards  the  ordinance  and  purpose  of  God. 
But  the  child  had  then  only  completed  his  fourteenth 
year,  and  was,  in  body  and  mind,  inferior  to  those 
who  have  attained  a  like  age  in  our  day,  as  is  evident 
from  his  mother's  carrying  him  in  her  arms,  when  she 
left  her  master's  house.  While,  too,  we  exculpate  not 
the  act,  yet  it  precluded  not  the  youthful  sinner  from 
a  subsequent  turning  unto  God.  Surely,  in  inspired 
times  and  in  this  age,  many  who  have  reached  maturer 
years  have  had  more  heinous  trangressions  covered 
with  the  righteousness  of  Christ,  and  have  been  sanc- 
tified and  honored  as  chosen  vessels  of  mercy  to  other 
souls.  And  whatever  may  have  been  the  natural 
feelings  of  Ishmael  at  the  birth  and  circumcision  of 
his  younger  brother,  it  is  yet  plain  that  he  afterwards 
cheerfully  acquiesced  in  the  sovereign  dispositions  of 
God  among  the  members  of  Abraham's  household ; 
that  he  recognized  Isaac  as  the  inheritor  of  his  own 
expected  blessing,  and  that  the  two  sons,  with  the 
most  fraternal  feelings,  united  in  committing  the  body 
of  their  aged  father  to  the  tomb. 

When,  therefore,  we  read,  that  Ishmael  "died  in 
the  presence  of  all  his  brethren,"  there  is  good  ground 
to  hope,  that  he  who,  because  his  mother  was  a  bond- 
woman, was  used  by  the  Holy  Ghost  to  typify  that 
fearful  and  slavish  spirit  which  is  always  engendered 
by  any  union  between  our  souls  and  the  law  as  their 
13 


194  AN  APPEAL  FOR  OUR  SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

justifier,  and  who  was  consequently  cast  out  of  his 
father's  house  to  teach  the  behever's  duty  to  free  him- 
self from  all  servihty  of  the  kind ;  that  he  was  yet 
finally  gathered  into  the  fold  of  Christ — an  eternally 
living  monument  of  the  sovereignty  and  power  of 
saving  grace. 

This  glorious  conclusion  we  arrive  at  from  these 
words,  falling  from  the  mouth  of  God :  "  Behold,  I 
have  blessed  him ;"  for  surely  if  Balak  was  authorized 
to  use  this  language  to  a  wicked,  but  real  prophet  of 
the  Lord,  we  can  look  upward  to  that  prophet's  God 
and  say :  "  We  wot,  that  he  whom  thou  blessest  is 
blessed."  Nor,  Christian  parents,  should  you  forget 
that  this  ineffable  result  was  reached  through  a  right- 
eous father's  prayer.  "And  Abraham  said  unto  God, 
0  that  Ishmael  might  live  before  thee !" — a  part 
of  the  answer  to  which  petition  was :  "  As  for  Ish- 
mael, I  have  heard  thee." 

Bear  with  me,  then,  while  I  endeavor,  for  a  few 
moments,  to  enforce  from  our  text  the  duty  of  seek- 
ing, in  a  scriptural  way,  the  salvation  of  your  little 
ones.  Surely  this  is  not  only  the  privilege,  but  the 
special  obHgation  of  every  sphitually-minded  parent 
in  our  midst. 

In  the  introduction  of  this  discourse,  we  admired 
the  intimate  terms  of  friendship  to  which  Abraham 
was  admitted  by  his  God.  Do  you  covet  the  hke 
blessing  for  yourselves  ?  Let  us  inquire,  then,  for  a 
moment  into  the  secret  reason  of  his  near  access  to 
God ;  and  you  will  learn,  that  if  you  wish  to  promote 
your  own  spiritual  interests,  you  should  perseveringly 
seek  the  salvation  of  your  child.     If  we  look  into  the 


AN  APPEAL  FOR  OUR  SUNDAY-SCHOOL.  195 

chapter  succeeding  that  before  us,  we  find  God  dis- 
closing his  purposes  of  vengeance  respecting  the  cities 
of  the  plain,  to  his  earthly  friend,  and  as  though  it 
were  not  in  his  heart  to  deny  the  patriarch  aught, 
binding  himself  to  continued  forbearance,  upon  the 
more  and  more  stringent  conditions  which  every  sub- 
sequent prayer  of  Abraham  contained.  We  are  all 
ready  to  exclaim.  Oh !  that  we  were  on  such  terms 
with  God ;  that  we  had  such  access  to,  such  influence 
with  the  Father  of  our  spirits  !  Now,  we  are  favored 
with  the  reasons  which  operated  on  the  mind  of  God 
thus  to  honor  and  bless  his  friend.  We  read :  "  And 
the  Lord  said.  Shall  I  hide  from  Abraham  that  thing 
which  I  do  ?  For  I  know  him,  that  he  will  command 
his  children,  and  his  household  after  him,  and  they 
shall  keep  the  way  of  the  Lord."  Such  blessedness, 
then,  was  vouchsafed,  because  it  was  the  great  design 
of  our  patriarch,  in  all  his  personal  and  domestic 
regulations  and  habits,  to  enrich  the  members  of  his 
family  with  spiritual  and  everlasting  treasure.  It  was 
then,  brethren,  no  solitary  and  comparatively  cheap 
effort  for  the  salvation  of  his  son,  which  Abraham  put 
forth  in  offering  the  petition  before  us.  "  It  was  the 
effectual,  fervent  prayer  of  a  righteous  man,  which 
availeth  much  with  God."  It  proceeded  from  a  deep 
consciousness  that  his  own  unwearied  and  faithful 
parental  labors  for  the  salvation  of  his  child,  would  be 
unavailing  without  a  blessing  from  the  Lord,  and  that 
the  Spirit  only  giveth  life.  This  it  was  which  wrung 
from  him  the  exclamation,  "  0,  that  Ishmael  might  live 
before  thee !" 

If,  then,  you  would  be  thus  honored  of  God,  make 


196  AN  APPEAL  FOR  OUR  SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

it  the  paramount  daily  purpose  in  your  house  to 
secure  the  enthronement  of  God  in  your  children's 
hearts.  If,  too,  you  would  have  your  prayer  in  behalf 
of  your  child  succeed,  like  that  of  the  Almighty's 
friend,  let  it  be  accompanied  with  the  most  constant, 
and  yet  most  self-despising  and  creature-renouncing 
efforts  to  train  him  up  for  God. 

We  will  adduce  only  another  instance  from  the 
Scripture,  in  order  to  show  how  God  regards  and  how 
he  rewards  the  interest  of  a  parent  for  the  salvation 
of  his  children.  No  man  has  been  honored  in  the 
word  of  God  with  higher  commendations  than  the 
patriarch  Job.  He  is  described  as  a  man  perfect  and 
upright,  fearing  God  and  eschewing  evil :  "  there  was 
none  other  like  him  in  all  the  earth,"  in  the  judgment 
of  the  Omniscient  and  Holy  One.  Yet  we  see  the 
interest  manifested  by  this  approved  saint,  in  the 
sanctification  and  salvation  of  his  children,  by  his 
offering  a  burnt-offering  for  each,  upon  occasion  of 
their  attending  a  feast ;  and  that,  too,  in  consequence 
of  no  report  of  outward  misbehavior,  but  because  this 
spiritually-minded  man  feared,  "lest  his  sons  had 
sinned  and  cursed  God  in  their  hearts." 

The  promises,  too.  Christian  brethren,  are,  accord- 
ing to  St.  Peter,  "  to  you  and  to  your  children."  If, 
then,  you  despise  not  the  very  provisions  of  the  cove- 
nant, see  to  it  that  you  desire  and  seek,  in  every 
scriptural  way,  the  salvation  of  your  children's  souls. 
Let  no  earthly  schemes  and  wishes  in  your  child's 
behalf,  compete  for  a  single  moment,  or  in  any  partic- 
ular, with  your  efforts  to  promote  his  spiritual  and 
everlasting  interests.     Expose  not  his  soul  to  destruc- 


AN  APPEAL  FOR  OUR  SUNDAY-SCHOOL.  197 

tion  for  the  improvement  of  his  mind,  or  in  order  to 
teach  him  how  he  should  sit  or  stand,  or  how  he  may 
gracefully  enter  or  leave  a  drawing-room.  Surround 
him  not  with  temptations  to  worldliness  and  sin,  be- 
cause honors  and  emoluments  hold  out  their  ghttering 
baits.  Be  certified,  that  every  other  aim  and  prospect 
are  made  scripturally  subservient  to  his  gaining  a 
heavenly  crown.  In  your  private,  as  well  as  public 
walk — in  the  sentiments  which  you  utter  and  put  in 
practice  under  your  own  roof,  if  your  child  adopt 
your  views  and  follow  in  your  course,  let  these  bring 
him  peace  at  the  last.  Let  the  constant  wishes  of 
your  heart — which  in  the  ear  of  God  are  your  real 
prayers,  whatever  be  the  w^ords  which  flow  from 
your  mouths — let  these  prefer  the  life  of  your  son's 
spirit  even  to  that  of  his  body,  and  be  ready  to  rejoice 
if  he  breathe  his  last  in  the  arms  of  Jesus.  Let  your 
desires  for  his  salvation  be  subordinate  to  only  one 
thing  in  heaven  or  on  earth.  But  be  sure,  as  you  aim 
to  be  holy  and  accepted  in  your  efforts  for  his  good, 
that  your  wishes,  even  for  his  everlasting  peace,  be 
submitted  to  the  will  and  glory  of  our  God.  Let 
every  word  of  instruction  and  exhortation  that  drops 
from  your  lips  with  this  high  mark  in  view — every 
work  that  you  undertake — every  prayer  that  you 
offer  for  this  object,  be  begun,  continued,  and  ended, 
because  God  hath  instituted  the  ties  which  subsist 
between  you  and  your  children,  in  order  to  promote 
his  own  glory  by  their  salvation.  And  if,  contrary  to 
God's  general  rule,  which  is  to  adopt  into  his  own 
family  the  children  of  his  sons  and  daughters,  as 
Jacob  took  Ephraim  and  Manasseh  for  his  own — ^if  he 


198  AN  APPEAL  FOR  OUR  SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

see  fit,  for  his  own  glory  and  to  prove  his  sovereignty, 
to  show  in  the  fruit  of  your  body,  that  there  are  first 
which  shall  be  last ;  if,  while  he  receive  the  children 
of  outcasts,  he  bless  not  to  the  salvation  of  your 
child's  soul  the  means  which  you  faithfully  use,  sor- 
row not  without  hope,  hke  the  man  after  God's  own 
heart  in  Absalom's  case ;  say  rather,  with  this  saint 
in  his  more  spiritual  mood  :  "  It  is  the  Lord ;  let  him 
do  what  seemeth  him  good;"  with  our  Lord  and 
Master  himself,  quahfy  and  withdraw  whatever  was 
not  consistent  with  the  purposes  and  glory  of  God, 
and  say :  "  Father,  not  my  will,  but  thine  be  done." 

We  allude  not,  Christian  parents,  to  this  necessary 
subserviency  in  your  efforts  for  your  children's  ever- 
lasting good,  to  the  will  and  glory  of  our  God,  to 
depress  your  spmts,  but  rather  to  insure  success,  by 
pointing  out  the  way  in  which  alone  you  can  gain  the 
needed  help  and  blessing  of  that  great  glorifier  of 
Jesus,  the  Holy  Ghost.  Li  whose  hands,  too,  would 
you  prefer  the  matter  of  your  child's  salvation  to  be 
placed;  your  own,  or  God's?  Whose  grace  and  power 
are  alone  sufficient  effectually  to  begin  and  accomplish 
this  great  work  ?  And  what  promises  could  be  more 
encouraging  than  those  which  you  meet  with  in  the 
grateful  task  of  promoting  God's  glory  by  the  salva- 
tion of  your  child  ? 

"In  the  morning,  then,  sow  thy  seed;  in  the  evening 
withhold  not  thy  hand;  thou  knowest  not  whether 
shall  prosper  this  or  that."  While  with  Abraham  you 
command  your  children  after  you  in  the  way  of  the 
Lord,  be  with  him  scripturally  aware,  that  the  Holy 
Ghost  alone  imparteth  life,  and  let  the  constant  desire 


AN  APPEAL  FOR  OUR  SUNDAY-SCHOOL.  199 

of  your  heart,  and  the  frequent  utterance  of  your 
lips  be,  with  the  simple  substitution  of  your  child's 
name  for  that  of  Hagar's  son  :  "  0  that  Ishmael  might 
live  before  thee  !"  In  due  time  you  shall  reap,  if  you 
faint  not.  Though  like  Ishmael,  for  years,  he  mock 
while  others  pray,  yet  the  promised  blessing  shall  be 
his ;  he,  too,  shall  be  led,  with  weeping  and  supplica- 
tions ;  at  the  feet  of  him  whom  his  sins  have  pierced, 
the  Spirit  of  grace  shall  be  poured  upon  his  soul,  and 
with  one  heart  and  one  mouth,  parent  and  child,  like 
brethren,  shall  glorify  their  common  Father  and  God. 
A  brief  application  of  our  subject  to  the  object 
before  us,  will  now  close  this  discourse.  The  God  of 
Abraham  hath  raised  up  in  these  latter  days,  for  the 
help  of  the  spiritual  seed  of  his  earthly  friend,  in 
iheir  endeavors  and  prayers  to  obtain  eternal  life  for 
their  children,  who  naturally,  like  Ishmael,  are  out- 
casts from  the  household  of  faith — he  hath  raised  up, 
I  say,  for  their  assistance  in  this  blessed  work,  the 
institution  of  the  Sunday-school.  How  many  evan- 
gelical truths,  Christian  brethren,  are  by  this  system 
of  lay-preaching  brought  before  the  minds  of  your 
little  ones — applied,  too,  to  the  soul  of  each  by  per- 
sonal address ;  the  Spirit,  likewise,  having  been  pre- 
viously supplicated  in  faith  to  break  up  the  fallow 
ground  of  the  child's  heart  for  the  reception  of  the 
Gospel  seed !  What  opportunities  does  the  prepara- 
tion of  the  Sunday  lesson  in  the  week  afford,  for  you  to 
instruct  and  interest  your  children's  minds  in  spmtual 
things !  We  trust  that,  as  a  good  soldier  of  Jesus 
Christ,  you  faithfully  use  this  weapon,  which  the  Cap- 
tain of  Salvation  hath  put  in  your  hands,  to  guard 


200  AN  APPEAL  FOR  OUR  SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

your  child  against  his  spiritual  foes ;  and  that,  so  far 
as  all  proper  appliances  at  home  can  produce  the 
end,  he  enters  the  school,  on  every  Lord's  day,  pre- 
pared in  mind  and  heart  to  receive  a  hlessing  from 
God  through  his  teacher's  lips ;  and  that  you  follow 
him  with  Abraham's  prayer  :  "  O  that  Ishmael  might 
live  before  thee !  Sure  we  are,  that  among  the 
imperfect  instrumentalities  of  grace  on  earth,  none  is 
better  adapted  to  prove  an  efficient  help  in  training 
up  your  little  ones  for  God,  than  the  Sunday-school 
which  has  been  organized  in  our  beloved  church ;  and 
which,  notwithstanding  many  reverses  with  which  it 
has  been  threatened  during  the  past  year,  nevertheless, 
under  its  devoted  superintendents,  and,  we  would  trust, 
universally  faithful  teachers,  has  not,  at  any  previous 
period,  presented  a  more  flourishing  appearance,  as 
was  generally  conceded,  than  at  its  late  anniversary 
celebration.  The  pupils  have  not  sensibly  diminished, 
notwithstanding  the  incorporation  of  the  Branch  School 
with  the  original  institution  under  this  roof.  The 
scholars  may  be  estimated,  in  round  numbers,  as 
amounting  in  the  various  departments  to  750;  and 
in  every  branch,  from  the  Infant-school  to  the  Bible- 
class,  is  under  what  may  certainly,  by  the  present 
speaker,  be  styled,  without  arrogance,  an  incompara- 
ble state  of  discipline  and  success. 

Deep  interest  has  been  felt  and  exhibited,  through- 
out the  entire  school,  in  the  support  of  a  faithful  and 
zealous  minister,  who  has  gone  from  our  midst  to  labor 
for  Christ  in  a  foreign  and  Pagan  land ;  and  in  con- 
junction with  the  society  of  ladies  in  our  church,  the 
children  have  agreed  to  raise  for  this  object  the  sum  of 


AN  APPEAL  FOR  OUR  SUNDAY-SCHOOL.  201 

$500.  It  affords  me  pleasure  to  state  that  the  first  year's 
salary  of  this  missionary,  which  will  not  be  due  until 
January,  1847,  together  with  |80  for  the  education  of 
four  children  in  the  African  Mission  Schools,  and  a 
like  sum  towards  the  support  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hill, 
in  Greece,  have  either  been  paid  to  the  Foreign  Com- 
mittee of  our  Church,  or  are  now  in  hand,  ready  to  be 
forwarded  at  an  early  day.  While,  then,  our  school 
receives,  perhaps,  annually  from  you  with  one  hand, 
some  |350  for  its  own  support,  it  is  dehghtful  to  see 
it  raising  within  itself,  and  disbursing  with  the  other, 
about  a  like  sum  to  distribute  among  distant  and  per- 
ishing souls,  the  bread  of  life  which  came  down 
from  heaven.  Thus,  w^hile  your  contributions  supply 
your  own  children  and  many  of  the  ignorant  and  des- 
titute around  with  the  means  of  sustaining  and  enlight- 
ening themselves,  in  one  body,  they  likewise  insure  an 
organization  which  remits  about  an  equal  amount  to 
spiritually  uncultivated  portions  of  our  Lord's  field, 
the  world.  And  our  school  may  therefore  be  likened 
to  a  fertile  meadow,  which  hath  springs  within  itself, 
and  transmits,  without  any  loss,  streams  equal  to  those 
which  it  receives  from  a  neighboring  fountain  to  glad- 
den the  desert,  and  make  it  blossom  as  the  garden  of 
the  Lord. 

But,  dear  friends,  while  this  view  of  the  operations 
of  our  school  presents  a  most  gi^atifying  picture,  and 
while  it  is  pleasing  to  behold  the  order  and  harmony 
that  pervade  the  whole,  and  while  it  is  inspiring  to 
hear  our  Lord's  hosannas  sung  by  so  many  of  the 
young;  yet  in  aU  that  our  school  receives  and  gives — 
in  all  the  instruction  that  is  imparted — in  all  the  ver- 


202  AN  APPEAL  FOR  OUR  SUNDAY-SCHOOL. 

bal  praises  that  are  offered,  we  see  and  hear  only  what 
is  oiitAvard.  These,  in  their  best  estate,  constitute 
only  the  letter  which  killeth  :  where,  brethren,  is  the 
Spirit  that  giveth  life  ? 

At  our  last  confirmation,  nine  from  the  female  de- 
partment of  the  Sunday-school  were  thought  fit,  by 
your  late  excellent  pastor,  to  renew  their  solemn  bap- 
tismal vows,  and  in  their  own  name  to  make  a  profes- 
sion of  Christ  before  the  world.  Of  late,  no  case  of 
inquiry  or  conversion  has  been  reported  throughout 
the  school.  Christian  parents,  we  would  not  counte- 
nance impatience  in  the  work  of  the  Lord ;  we  would 
encourage  you  to  steadfastness,  with  the  hope  that 
you  yet  will  reap — but  we  would  faithfully  warn  you, 
withhold  not  the  perhaps  bare  and  ready  arm  of  the 
Lord,  by  putting  off"  in  your  expectations  the  recep- 
tion of  spiritual  blessings  by  your  children's  souls. 
Remember,  "  now  is  the  accepted  time ;"  now  is  the 
day  of  salvation  for  all,  the  young  included  with  the 
rest.  The  breath  of  your  at  present  impenitent,  un- 
believing, and  condemned  children  is  in  their  nostrils. 
If  summoned  to-day  before  the  bar  of  God,  where 
would  their  souls  appear  ? 

Not  only,  then,  continue  to  support  us  by  your  con- 
tributions, in  our  efforts  for  your  children's  good ;  but 
further  us  by  your  example  and  entire  influence  at 
home.  Above  all,  quicken  these  dead  means  of  grace, 
by  offering  from  a  righteous  heart,  with  the  simple 
substitution  of  your  child's  name  for  that  of  Hagar's 
son,  this  prayer  of  the  Almighty's  friend :  "  0  that 
Ishmael  might  live  before  thee !" 


SEEMON  XIY. 


THE  KIGHTEOUSNESS  REQUIRED  IN  THE  KINGDOM  OF 
HEAVEN. 


Matt.  V.  20. 


"EXCKPT   YOUR   RIGHTEOUSNESS   SHALL   EXCEED   THE    RIGHTEOUSNESS   OF 

THE  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  ye  shall  in  no  case  enter  into 

THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN." 

"Who,  then,  of  us  would  be  willing  not  to  be  allowed 
in  any  case  to  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven? 
Yet  he  who  is  the  truth,  and  who  sits  upon  the  throne 
of  that  kingdom,  assures  us  in  the  text,  that  "  except" 
we  comply  with  a  certain  condition,  "except"  we 
attain  a  specific  requirement,  we  "shall  in  no  case 
enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven."  What,  then,  is 
that  condition  ?  what  is  that  requirement  ?  "  Except 
your  righteousness  shall  exceed  the  righteousness  of 
the  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  ye  shall  in  no  case  enter 
into  the  kingdom  of  God."  Such  is  the  law  of  Zion, 
as  enacted  and  declared  by  him  who  has  had  his 
throne  set  upon  that  holy  hill.  We  submit,  too, 
brethren,  that  this  requu-ement  of  a  very  superior 
righteousness  on  our  part,  by  the  Mediatorial  King, 
as  a  term  of  admission  into  that  kingdom  of  heaven 
whose  subjects  are  to  enjoy  the  most  blessed  fellow- 
sliip  with  God,  is  not  arbitrary,  is  not  unreasonable. 


204  THE  RIGHTEOUSNESS  REQUIRED 

On  this  point,  the  law  written  on  every  man's  moral 
nature  corresponds  with  the  law  written  in  our  text. 
We  all  know  and  feel,  that  the  one  with  whom  we 
have  to  do  is  absolutely  spotless  and  unfathomable  in 
his  holiness  and  justice.  The  bare  thought,  too,  of 
the  king  of  heaven  being  in  intimate  and  everlasting 
communion  with  guilty,  or  even  impure  and  selfish 
subjects,  is  rejected  as  blasphemous  by  every  well- 
regulated  mind,  whether  it  supposes  itself  as  possessed 
or  not  of  that  righteousness  which  will  be  required  in 
order  to  be  admitted  to  this  blessed  relationship  to 
God.  Both  sinners  and  saints,  when  brought  into 
contact  with  God,  and  thrown  upon  their  own  re- 
sources, shrink  in  dismay  from  the  interview.  The 
wicked  are  described  in  the  last  day,  as  calling  upon 
the  mountains  and  rocks  to  fall  on  them  and  hide 
them  from  the  face  of  him  who  sits  upon  the  throne. 

The  most  CA^angelical  of  the  prophets,  when  favored 
with  an  emblematical  representation  of  God's  majesty 
and  hohness  in  the  temple,  as  the  seraphims,  covering 
their  faces  with  their  wings,  cried  "  Holy,  holy,  holy, 
is  the  Lord  of  Hosts;"  and  the  very  posts  of  the  door 
became  sensible  of  his  awful  presence,  and  moved,  and 
the  house  was  filled  with  smoke — even  Isaiah,  under 
these  circumstances,  said,  "Woe  is  me!  for  I  am  un- 
done ;  because  I  am  a  man  of  unclean  lips,  and  I  dwell 
in  the  midst  of  a  people  of  unclean  lips ;  for  mine  eyes 
have  seen  the  king !  Even  the  holy  elect  angels  are 
revealed  as  veiling  their  faces,  and  the  heavens  are 
declared  not  to  be  clean  in  his  sight.  Every  fallen 
man,  therefore,  as  he  contemplates  his  appointed 
meeting  with  this  king,  is  deeply  moved,  and  asks, 


IN  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN.  205 

"  Wherewith  shall  I  come  before  the  Lord,  and  bow 
myself  before  the  most  high  God  ?"  Let  eveiy  such 
earnest  inquirer  hear  the  reply  of  God's  incarnate 
Son:  "Except  your  righteousness  shall  exceed  the 
righteousness  of  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  ye  shall 
in  no  case  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven."  Under 
pain  and  penalty,  therefore,  of  certain  exclusion  from 
the  kingdom  of  heaven,  we  are  here  required  to  com- 
pare our  attainments  in  righteousness  with  those  of 
the  Scribes  and  Pharisees.  It  is  also  expressly  inti- 
mated that  their  righteousness  Avas  deficient,  and  that 
unless  what  they  lacked  be  supjihed  in  our  case,  the 
fearful  sentence  of  eternal  banishment  from  God's 
presence  shall  be  pronounced  on  our  souls. 

It  is  thus  our  present  object  to  assist  you,  beloved, 
in  arriving  at  a  proper  understanding  of  the  righteous- 
ness of  the  Scribe  and  Pharisee,  that  you  may  all 
furnish  yourselves  with  what  they  needed.  Three 
remarks  respecting  it  will  answer  our  purpose;  and 
the  first  of  these  is :  That  the  righteousness  of  the 
Scribes  and  Pharisees  was  the  best  tvhich  fallen  man 
can  ever  attain  in  a  state  of  nature.  This  assertion  may 
sound  very  strangely  in  the  face  of  all  those  fearful 
declarations  and  denunciations  against  the  Scribes  and 
Pharisees  which  abound  in  the  New  Testament.  But 
it  should  be  remembered,  that  these  were  uttered  by 
one  who  seeth  not  as  man  seeth,  and  that  they  were 
inspired  by  one  who  requires  to  be  served  in  spuit 
and  in  truth.  Moreover,  our  Saviour  acknowledges 
that  the  Scribes  and  the  Pharisees  outwardly  appeared 
righteous  unto  men.  There  were  none  who  could 
compare  with  them  in  reputation  for  sanctity;  and 


206  THE  RIGHTEOUSNESS  REQUIRED 

their  efforts  to  be  holy  were  evidently  very  laborious 
and  persevering.  Our  Lord  speaks  of  them,  upon  one 
occasion,  as  "  compassing  sea  and  land,"  and  St.  Paul 
represents  them  as  "going  about  to  establish  their 
own  righteousness." 

But  you  will  ask,  perhaps,  How  can  the  righteous- 
ness of  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees  be  the  best  human 
righteousness ;  for  was  it  not  merely  outward  ?  Nor 
can  it  be  denied,  that  the  divine  prophet  compared 
them  to  "  whited  sepulchres,  which  indeed  appear  beau- 
tiful outward,  but  are  within  full  of  dead  men's  bones 
and  of  all  uncleanness."  Our  whole  chapter,  too, 
seems  to  have  been  designed  to  convict  them  of 
merely  external  piety.  The  exceeding  broad  and 
spiritual  interpretations  which  our  Lord  in  this,  his 
first  sermon,  put  upon  the  requirements  of  the  divine 
law,  showing  that  purity  of  heart  and  poverty  of 
spirit  would  be  expected  of  all  who  should  see  God 
and  possess  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  were  so  much 
more  exalted  than  their  standard,  that  they  were 
proved  to  fall  far  short.  Our  immediate  context,  too, 
cut  off  every  hope  which  they  might  previously  have 
entertained  of  the  completeness  or  sufficiency  of  their 
righteousness,  by  informing  them  that  they  would 
stand  in  danger  when  they  were  tried  by  the  sixth 
commandment,  "  Thou  shalt  not  kill,"  if  they  had 
ever  been  angry  with  a  man  without  having  what 
God  would  regard  as  a  cause;  and  that  if,  under  the 
impulse  of  such  anger,  they  had  ventured  to  call 
another  a  fool,  they  would  be  in  danger  of  hell-fire. 

And  the  divine  interpretation  of  the  seventh  com- 
mandment was  in  these  words :  "  Whosoever  looketh 


IN  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN.  207 

on  a  woman,  to  lust  after  lier,  hath  committed  adul- 
tery with  her  already  in  his  heart."  Now,  when 
desires  are  thus  construed  into  acts  before  God's  tri- 
bunal— when  a  man  who  even  wishes  what  is  forbid- 
den, is  regarded  and  treated  as  a  culprit — were  the 
Scribes  and  Pharisees  peculiar  in  being  convicted, 
under  such  an  interpretation  of  the  law,  as  having 
only  an  outward  righteousness?  Who  can  say,  "I 
am  pure  from  my  sin,"  when  tried  by  such  inward 
tests  ?  Can  the  most  moral  and  upright  man  in  the 
Avhole  circle  of  our  acquaintance  set  up  such  a  claim 
for  himself?  If  he  is  not  conscious  of  having  trans- 
gressed some  of  the  commandments  of  God,  even  in 
a  thought  or  wish  of  his  heart,  are  there  not  others 
which  he  must  remember  that  he  has  thus  violated? 
What,  then,  will  he  urge  in  his  defence,  under  this 
enactment,  "  Whosoever  shall  keep  the  whole  law,  and 
yet  offend  in  one  point,  he  is  guilty  of  all  ?"  Surely, 
then,  it  does  not  militate  against  our  claiming  for  the 
Scribes  and  Pharisees  a  righteousness  equal  to  any 
which  an  unconverted  man  can  attain,  when  we  admit 
that  their  righteousness  was  simply  outward. 

But  you  will,  perhaps,  ask  again :  Were  not  the 
Pharisees  absolutely  guilty  of  making  the  commandments 
of  God  of  none  effect  hy  their  traditions  ?  and  how,  then, 
can  their  righteousness  be  better  than  that  of  other 
men?  It  must  be  admitted,  that  great  was  that 
"  hardness  of  heart"  which  required  Moses,  as  their 
civil  governor,  to  permit  them  to  put  away  their  wives 
by  simply  giving  to  them  a  bill  of  divorcement;  when, 
as  their  inspired  prophet,  he  had  taught  them  that 
God  had  made  man  and  wife  one  flesh.    Whose  moral 


208  THE  RIGHTEOUSNESS  REQUIRED 

sense,  too,  is  not  shocked,  when  he  learns  that  these 
expounders  of  God's  law,  in  violation  of  the  fifth  com- 
mandment, which  required  them  to  honor  their  parents, 
permitted  their  followers  to  escape  its  solemn  obhga- 
tion,  by  simply  saying  to  their  father  and  mother, 
"  Corban,  or  it  is  a  gift  by  whatever  you  may  be  pro- 
fited by  me  ?"  But,  without  in  the  least  extenuating 
its  enormity,  we  would  yet  ask,  Is  it  not  a  universal 
tendency  among  men  who  are  relying  upon  their  own 
righteousness  for  accej^tance  with  God,  to  lower  the 
demands  of  the  divine  law  to  a  level  with  their  own 
infirmities,  and  to  put  such  a  construction  upon  them 
as  to  be  consistent  with  their  own  sins  ? 

Point  out  the  true  meaning  of  God's  requii'ements 
to  the  most  highly-esteemed  moralist  or  unconverted 
man  in  any  community,  whether  he  be  within  or  with- 
out the  church,  and  the  almost  uniform  answer  that 
you  will  receive  is,  if  such  a  construction  be  the  right 
one,  who,  then,  can  be  saved  ?  Every  corrupt,  fallen 
creature,  who  is  depending  upon  his  own  character  for 
salvation,  must,  as  a  matter  of  necessity,  degrade  the 
law  of  God  to  some  standard  which  he  is  able  to  reach, 
or  he  must  immediately  renounce  all  trust  in  his  own 
goodness.  When  comparing,  therefore,  the  righteous- 
ness of  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees  with  that  of  other 
men  who  are  not  in  Christ,  it  is  not  to  be  despised 
because  they  narrowed  and  lowered  the  meaning  of 
God's  commandments. 

But  you  may  still  further  say :  Were  not  the  Scribes 
and  Pharisees  even  ht/pocritical  ?  Does  not  our  Lord 
denounce  a  woe  against  them  as  hypocrites  ?  Did  he 
not  warn  his  disciples  to  "  beware  of  the  leaven  of  the 


IN  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN.  209 

Pharisees,  which  was  hypocrisy  ?  and  in  face  of  this, 
is  it  maintained  that  they  w^ere  better  than  others  ? 
But  we  w^ni  venture  to  ask :  Were  the  Scribes  and 
Pharisees  pecuHar  among  imconverted  men,  in  this 
respect?  Let  not  groundless  and  false  charges  be 
brought  against  any,  but  let  us  understand  terms.  By 
hypocrite,  at  least  in  the  present  connection,  we  do  not 
mean  a  man  who  is  all  the  while  conscious  that  he  is 
acting  a  deceitful  part,  who  always  feels  that  he  is  not 
what  he  appears  to  be,  and  who  shapes  his  course 
with  the  express  purpose  of  making  others  think  that 
he  is  better  than  he  is.  It  may  well  be  doubted, 
whether  there  is  such  an  abidingly  conscious  villain 
upon  the  face  of  the  earth.  No,  brethren;  human 
nature,  in  its  very  worst  specimen,  is  unable,  for  a 
constancy,  to  remain  in  such  a  consciously  depraved 
state  as  this.  We  spontaneously  forget  w^hat  our  true 
character  is ;  we  readily  persuade  ourselves  that  Ave 
are  what  we  seem  to  be.  "  We  flatter  ourselves  in 
our  own  eyes,  until  our  iniquity  be  found  to  be  hate- 
ful." Let  a  man,  however,  only  stop  and  think ;  let 
him  sometimes  ask  himself  the  questions.  Am  I  what 
I  appear  to  be,  in  all  respects  ?  Would  I  be  willing 
that  others  should  know  what  my  feelings  and  wishes 
often  are  ?  Do  I  not  wdsh  others  to  think  that  I  am 
really  feeling  what  I  appear  to  be  feeHng  ?  Is  not 
my  righteousness  merely  outward  ?  Am  I  not,  to  all 
intents  and  purposes,  Hving  under  a  mask,  although  I 
generally  forget  that  I  am  doing  so  ?  Has  not  this 
self-deception  and  internal  hypocrisy  proceeded  so  far 
that  I  sometimes  flatter  myself  that  even  the  Searcher 
of  Hearts  has  the  same  opinion  of  me  that  those  who- 
14 


210  THE  RIGHTEOUSNESS  REQUIRED 

judge  by  the  outward  appearance  have  been  made  to 
entertain  ?  He  must  be  very  ignorant  of  himself,  and 
absohitely  seared  in  his  conscience,  who  would  not 
writhe  under  such  a  self-examination  as  this. 

Now,  you  will  remember  that  it  was  no  mere 
fellow-creature,  but  one  who  knew  what  was  in  man, 
who  brought  the  charges  of  hypocrisy  against  the 
Scribes  and  Pharisees,  which  have  been  alluded  to ; 
and  we  must  be  persuaded  that  he  accused  them  in 
this  way,  not  because  of  any  singularity  in  their  case, 
but  because  they  w^ere  an  organized  band  of  uncon- 
verted church-members,  who  were  trying  to  be  good 
in  their  own  strength,  because  they  were  the  fair  rep- 
resentatives of  natural  men,  whether  in  or  out  of  the 
church,  who  "trust  in  themselves  that  they  are 
risrhteous." 

But  some  one  may  inquire  here :  Are  not  the  true 
children  of  God,  if  there  be  any  such  in  the  world, 
brought  under  the  same  condemnation  ?  Are  not  even 
they  hypocrites  in  this  sense  ?  Do  they  let  their 
thoughts  and  feelings  be  known  ?  Do  not  they  appear 
to  be  better  than  they  are?  We  answer,  that  in  a 
certain  sense,  this  is  true.  The  very  best  of  them 
have  countless  desires  and  feelings  which  it  might 
well  make  them  blush  to  own.  Nay,  some  of  them 
may  be  tempted  to  act,  for  awhile,  the  part  of  con- 
scious hypocrites,  and  may  be  compelled  to  mourn  in 
secret  over  even  this  diabolical  sin.  But  we  are  not 
advocating  the  propriety  or  duty  of  proclaiming  upon 
the  housetop  every  secret  delinquency  or  wrong  feel- 
ing. This,  in  our  present  state  of  existence,  would  be 
the  part  of  a  madman.   Nor  is  this  necessary,  in  order 


IN  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN.  211 

to  shield  us  from  the  charge  of  hypocrisy.  All  that 
can  be  expected  is,  that  we  should  be  habitually 
honest  before  God;  confessing,  in  all  its  enormity, 
every  feehng  before  him  in  whose  sight  it  has  been 
entertained,  and  never  daring  to  rely  for  acceptance  at 
his  hand,  upon  any  pretended  goodness  of  our  own. 

Before  men,  too,  the  disciples  of  Christ  are  ready 
to  acknowledge,  in  the  gross,  but  yet  most  humbly 
and  honestly,  and  with  no  covert  purpose,  that  in 
truth  and  before  God,  they  are  miserable  sinners,  how- 
ever saintly  they  may  appear  to  be  in  man's  sight. 
Here,  then,  is  an  essential  difference  between  behevers 
and  those  who  have  never  been  properly  convicted  of 
their  sins;  and,  therefore,  believers  are  not  habitual 
hypocrites,  in  the  scriptural  use  of  that  term.  They 
do  differ  from  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  and  all  natural 
and  unconverted  men;  for  these  last  trust  in — they 
have  nothing  else  in  which  they  can  trust,  but,  their 
own  righteousness.  And  all  fallen  creatures  whose 
reliance  is  on  their  own  goodness — all  who  occupy 
such  a  position,  either  in  God's  or  man's  sight,  must 
necessarily  be  hypocrites  in  the  sense  explained ;  they 
would  at  once  be  driven  from  this  ground,  if  they  did 
not  live  under  a  mask ;  if  they  did  not  persuade  them- 
selves that  not  only  man  but  God  thinks  of  them  just 
as  they  seem  to  be. 

While,  however,  there  is  this  difference  between 
the  disciples  of  Christ  and  the  impenitent,  yet,  as  we 
have  seen,  there  is  no  essential  difference  between 
individual  unconverted  men  in  this  respect;  and  there- 
fore we  cannot  admit,  that  among  mere  natural  charac- 
ters, there  is  anything  peculiar  to  Scribes  and  Phari- 


212  THE  RIGHTEOUSNESS  REQUIRED 

sees,  because,  in  a  scriptural  sense,  they  must  be 
regarded  as  hypocritical.  On  the  contrary,  brethren, 
Scribes  and  Pharisees  have  a  righteousness  altogether 
beyond  that  of  the  mass  of  theu'  unconverted  breth- 
ren. Their  righteousness  is  fully  equal  to  that  standard 
which  they  set  up  according  to  thek  own  interpretation 
of  God's  law.  "Touching  the  righteousness,  (which 
is  comprised  in  their  interpretation  of  the  law,)  they 
are  blameless."  What  zeal,  too,  do  many  of  them 
manifest  in  furthering  the  purposes  of  the  church! 
They  tithe  even  mint,  anise,  and  cummin !  How  long 
and  repeated  are  their  public  prayers  !  How  scrupu- 
lous and  exact  in  every  observance !  Not  only  in 
their  morality,  seemly  and  imposing;  but  they  are 
clothed  with  a  church  righteousness.  All  that  uncon- 
verted men  can  make  of  either  natural  or  revealed 
religion,  they  have  made  of  both. 

The  righteousness  of  Scribes  and  Pharisees  is  thus 
the  very  best  righteousness  which  natural  men,  under 
the  most  favorable  circumstances,  can  ever  acquire. 
When  we  have  said  this,  no  doubt  many  will  think 
that  we  are  bound  to  regard  this  righteousness  as 
saving,  notwithstanding  its  merely  outward,  mistaken, 
short-coming  and  hypocritical  character.  For  what 
more,  they  will  be  ready  to  ask,  can  God  justly  re- 
quire of  a  man  than  that  he  shall  do  as  well  as  he 
can?  To  this  question  we  shall  only  reply  by  another: 
"  Nay,  but  0  man,  who  art  thou  that  repliest  against 
God  ?"  and  we  shall  close  all  that  is  to  be  said  under 
this  head,  by  repeating  the  words  of  the  text :  "  Ex 
cept  your  righteousness  shall  exceed  the  righteousness 
of  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  ye  shall  in  no  case  enter 


IN  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN.  213 

into  the  kingdom  of  heaven;"  except  your  righteousness 
shall  exceed  all  that  an  unconverted  man  can  attain, 
either  in  or  out  of  the  church,  ye  cannot  be  saved. 

Our  two  remaining  remarks  may  well  he  anticipated. 
We  would,  therefore,  only  briefly  say,  in  the  second 
place,  that  the  righteousness  of  Scribes  and  Pharisees 
is  not  that  ivhicli  tJie  Imv  of  God  requires.  As  much  might 
be  inferred  from  what  has  been  already  pointed  out  in 
its  character.  For  could  the  Heart-searcher  be  satis- 
fied with  a  mere  outward  conformity  to  his  require- 
ments? Can  the  Unchangeable  One  be  contented 
with  what  comes  short  of  the  standard  which  he  has 
once  set  up  ?  Can  he,  who  is  upright  and  true,  be 
pleased  with  what  is  necessarily  hypocritical?  Ac- 
cordingly we  read,  that  "  cursed  is  ever}^  one  that  con- 
tinueth  not  in  all  things  which  are  written  in  the  book 
of  the  law  to  do  them ;"  that  "  there  is  none  righteous, 
no,  not  one ;"  and  that,  "  by  the  deeds  of  the  law, 
there  shall  no  flesh  be  justified." 

So,  far,  therefore,  brethren,  as  the  law  of  God  is 
concerned,  we  are  cut  oif.  not  only  from  the  expecta- 
tion of  being  justified  altogether  from  comphance  with 
it,  but  from  even  being  justified  in  part  by  our  obe- 
dience to  it.  The  only  tones  which  the  law  utters, 
when  even  the  best  fallen  man  looks  to  it  in  his  strait, 
are  those  of  unmitigated  threatening  and  cursing.  So 
that  partial  conformity  to  it  must  not  form  any  por- 
tion of  the  ground  upon  which  we  stand  before  God's 
bar.  On  whatever  else  we  may  rely,  to  supply  the 
deficiency  in  our  own  title  through  the  law,  the  simple 
fact  of  depending  upon  our  own  character  and  attain- 
ments, in  the  least,  will  vitiate  every  other  plea.     St. 


214  THE  RIGHTEOUSNESS  REQUIRED 

Paul  sajs,  in  reference  to  the  position  wliicli  lie  occu- 
pied here,  "  not  having  mine  own  righteousness ;"  he 
did  not  carry  his  own  character  with  him  before  the 
divine  tribunal,  to  form  either  a  sufficient  or  a  partial 
plea ;  he  had  divested  himself  of  it  entirely ;  he  had 
cast  it  overboard. 

Thus,  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  and  all  who,  like  them, 
trust  in  whole  or  in  part  upon  Avhat  they  are  in  them- 
selves, are  cut  off  by  the  law  of  God  from  every  hope. 
It  is  mere  delusion,  too,  for  them  to  expect  the  first 
sight  of  God  in  heaven,  to  transform  them  into  that 
spotless  image  of  the  divine  character  which  the  law 
requires,  so  that  they  will  satisfy  the  claims  of  the 
law  hereafter,  if  they  do  not  now.  For  none  shall  be 
allowed,  in  any  case,  to  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
heaven,  and  to  attain  such  a  sight  of  God,  unless  their 
righteousness  shall  exceed,  beforehand,  the  righteous- 
ness of  Scribes  and  Pharisees.  It  is  only  the  accepted 
sons  of  God  who  shall  be  made  wholly  like  Jesus,  by 
seeing  him  as  he  is.  This  glorious  promise  and  expec- 
tation are  for  such  alone ;  so  that  Scribes  and  Phari- 
sees, and  all  who  with  them  trust  in  any  way  or 
degree  upon  what  they  themselves  are,  do  not  satisfy 
the  demands  of  the  law,  and  are  brought  by  it  under 
condemnation. 

Let  it  not,  therefore,  be  supposed,  that  under  our 
previous  head,  any  absolute  praise  of  these  Jewish 
churchmen  was  intended.  It  was  only  when  compared 
with  the  character  and  conduct  of  other  unconverted 
men,  who  endeavor  to  be  good,  that  we  shielded  them 
from  indiscriminate  censure.  When,  however,  they  are 
judged  by  God's  law,  they  are.  proved  to  be  not  only 


IN  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN.  215 

short-coming,  but  positively  and  deeply  criminal.  How 
fearful  are  the  denunciations  with  which  they  were  met 
from  the  mouth  of  the  truthful,  although  meek  Saviour 
of  the  world  !  "  Woe  unto  you.  Scribes  and  Pharisees, 
hypocrites,"  was  his  frequent  personal  address;  and 
the  deceptive  arts  which  their  very  attempts,  as  fallen 
creatures,  to  be  righteous  in  themselves,  rendered 
necessary,  he  threatened  with  "deeper  damnation." 
So  that  the  righteousness  of  Scribes  and  Pharisees  was 
really  worse  than  the  notorious  sins  of  publicans;  and 
the  appalHng  general  conclusion  is  thus  reached,  that 
a  self-righteous  moralist  or  churchman  will  meet  with 
more  severe  judgment  from  God  than  the  open  trans- 
gi'essor. 

Such,  then,  is  the  estimate  which  tlie  law  of  God 
forms  of  the  righteousness  declared  to  be  insufficient 
in  our  text. 

But  we  proceed  now,  in  the  last  place,  to  remark, 
that  the  righteousness  of  Scribes  and  Pharisees  is  not 
that  rigldeousness  ivJdch  the  Gosj^jel  provides.  This  po- 
sition, we  know,  is  diametrically  opposed  to  the  views 
and  hopes  which  all  such  characters,  both  under  the 
Old  and  under  the  New  Dispensations  of  Christ's 
Church,  entertain.  They  are  ready  to  admit,  that  all 
that  they  are,  and  all  that  they  do,  would  be  of  no 
avail,  if  it  were  not  under  the  direction  of  the  Gospel, 
and  in  view  of  the  promises  of  the  Gospel.  "We 
profess  to  live,"  say  they,  "  under  the  institutions  and 
appointments  of  God's  evangelical  love  and  grace. 
The  revelation  of  God's  moral  law  itself  was  made  in 
mercy,  to  enlighten  our  dark  souls,  and  to  provide 
us  Avith  a  standard  at  which  we  should  aim.     All  the 


216  THE  KIGHTEOUSNESS  REQUIRED 

ordinances  of  the  church  were  established  as  helps, 
and  means  of  grace,  for  our  fallen  souls.  Circumcision, 
and  the  Passover,  and  the  entire  temple  Avorship  in 
the  Jewish  church;  and  prayer  and  preaching,  and 
baptism,  and  confirmation,  and  the  communion,  and 
the  various  services  in  our  church — all  were  and  are 
derived  from  God.  They  are  efficacious  only  through 
his  assistance  and  favor.  Nay,  they  are  rendered  im- 
portant, not  by  what  they  are  in  themselves,  but  in 
consequence  of  the  life  and  death  of  that  incarnate 
God,  whom  the  Jewish  believers  expected  as  their 
Messiah,  and  whom  we  know  as  one  already  come.  It 
is  for  his  sake,  that  our  moral  and  church  righteous- 
ness are  respected  of  God,  and  that  we  hope  to  be 
accepted  in  them." 

Thus,  brethren.  Scribes  and  Pharisees  by  no  means 
renounce  all  reference  to  Christ.  On  the  contrary,  it 
is  their  supposed  connection  with  him  which,  they 
maintain,  imparts  a  value  to  their  moral  and  church 
righteousness,  which  they  would  not  otherwise  pos- 
sess. And  it  is  because  their  moral  and  church  services 
are  mixed,  in  their  apprehensions,  with  Christ's  suffer- 
ings and  obedience,  that  they  hope  to  be  accepted  in 
what  they  are  and  do.  It  was  thus  with  the  Scribes 
and  Pharisees  in  the  old  church ;  it  is  thus  with  those 
who  are  Uke  them  in  ours.  They  are,  too,  astonished 
and  indignant  when  it  is  insisted,  according  to  the 
plainest  teachings  of  God's  word,  that  this  is  not  the 
righteousness  which  the  Gospel  provides  for  guilty, 
fallen  souls,  and  that,  notwithstanding  all  their  zeal 
for  God,  they  are  consequently  still  without  the  Gospel 
pale. 


IN  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN.  217 

But,  brethren,  whether  men  Avill  hear  or  forbear,  let 
us  uphokl  the  glorious  Gospel  of  the  blessed  God,  in 
all  its  purity.  Can  it  be,  then,  we  ask,  that  the  office 
and  work  of  the  Only-begotten  of  the  holy  and  just 
God,  are  to  render  such  a  righteousness  as  we  have 
seen  that  of  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees  to  be,  accepta- 
ble to  his  Father?  to  make  God  satisfied  with  that 
which,  in  its  best  estate,  and  in  its  highest  attainments^ 
is  necessarily  outward,  short-coming,  and  hypocritical? 
The  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  cleanseth  us  from  all  sins ;  it 
washes  them  away,  and  removes  them  from  us ;  but  it 
does  not  wash  the  sins  themselves,  and  make  them 
white  and  holy,  so  that  they  can  form  our  righteous- 
ness with  God.  No,  the  righteousness  of  a  fallen  man, 
whether  in  or  out  of  the  church,  is  itself  sinful;  and 
though  it  be  washed  in  the  blood  of  an  incarnate  God, 
can  never  be  purified.  All  our  righteousnesses  are 
filthy  rags :  and  not  one  thread  of  them  must  form  part 
of  either  warp  or  woof  of  that  robe  of  righteousness 
in  which  a  fallen  soul  appears  acceptable  in  God's  sight. 
The  righteousness  which  the  Gospel  provides,  and 
which  gains  an  entrance  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven, 
far  exceeds  not  only  that  which  a  fallen  man  can 
acquire,  but  even  that  which  the  holiest  angel  pos- 
sesses ;  it  would  be  degraded  and  soiled  by  any  mix- 
ture with  ours ;  there  would  be  a  garment  of  light, 
inconceivable  and  full  of  glory,  intertwined  with  black. 
It  is  none  other  than  the  righteousness  of  God  him- 
self. It  is  the  pure  righteousness  of  Christ,  as  set 
forth  in  the  Gospel,  made  ours  by  simple  faith,  and 
in  which  we  walk  with  God  in  white,  as  those  who 
are  worthy.    "Not  having,"  says  St.  Paul,  "mine  own 


218  THE  RIGHTEOUSNESS  REQUIRED 

rigliteousness,  which  is  of  the  law,  (not  only  that  law 
by  which  the  moral  universe  is  governed,  but  that  law 
by  which  the  church  is  regulated,  and  which  consists 
in  circumcision  and  keeping  of  the  feasts  and  fasts,  in 
ba23tism  and  the  Lord's  supper,  and  such  like — not 
having  these  righteousnesses,)  but  that  which  is  by 
the  faith  of  Christ,  the  righteousness  which  is  of  God 
by  faith."  And  again :  "  He  hath  made  him  to  be  sin 
for  us,  who  knew  no  sin ;  that  we  might  be  made  the 
righteousness  of  God  in  him." 

Since  such,  then,  is  the  glorious  righteousness  which, 
without  mixture,  is  required  at  our  hands,  well  may 
our  Lord  say :  "  Except  your  righteousness  shall  ex- 
ceed the  righteousness  of  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees, 
ye  shall  in  no  case  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven." 
Oh !  brethren,  we  exhort  you,  not  to  discontinue  your 
prayers,  either  in  private  or  in  public,  nor  your  self- 
denying  imitation  of  Jesus'  sinless  life,  nor  your  de- 
vout attendance  at  every  service  and  ordinance  of  the 
church,  nor  your  works  of  faith  and  labors  of  love : 
nay,  abound  in  these,  to  the  praise  of  him  who  hath 
called  you  to  such  hope  and  glory ;  but  repudiate  and 
curse  them  when,  as  they  are  in  themselves,  or  as 
they  may  be  supposed  to  be,  washed  in  Christ's  blood, 
or  inspired  by  God's  Spirit,  they  would  offer  them- 
selves to  you  as  your  righteousness  with  God. 

Come,  brethren,  convicted  deeply  of  the  guilt  of  all 
your  righteousness,  as  well  as  of  your  sins,  and  cast  it 
on  Jesus  crucified,  as  your  sacrifice  with  God.  Come 
naked,  and  be  clothed  by  faith  with  Jesus'  robe ;  and 
you  shall  have  an  abundant  entrance  administered  to 
you  into  the  kingdom  of  God.     Thus  clad,  you  shall 


IN  THE  KINGDOM  OF  HEAVEN.  219 

live  in  peace  with  God,  and  in  joyful  hope  of  this 
blessed  consummation.  No  exception  against  your 
entrance  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven  will  be  made ; 
but,  as  "  the  ransomed  of  the  Lord,  you  shall  come  to 
Zion  with  songs,  and  everlasting  joy  shall  be  upon 
your  heads :  you  shall  obtain  joy  and  gladness,  and 
sorrow  and  sighing  shall  flee  away." 


SERMON  XY. 


REFLECTIONS  ON  HAZAEL'S  CASE  ;  OR,  THE  WORST  SINS 
NATURAL  TO  MAN. 


2  Kings  viii.  13, 


"And  Hazael  said,   But  wuat,  is  thy  servant  a  dog,  that  he 
should  do  this  great  thing?" 

The  striking  liistoiy  of  the  Syrian,  who  addressed 
these  words  to  the  prophet  of  the  Lord,  is  familiar 
to  most  readers  of  the  Bible.  We  must,  however, 
remind  ourselves  now  of  its  leading  events,  as  we  pro- 
j)Ose  to  draw  instruction  from  his  case. 

It  would  seem,  then,  that  years  before  the  transac- 
tion in  our  chapter,  Elijah  had  been  ordered  by  his 
God  to  anoint  Hazael,  as  the  one  whom  it  was  designed 
to  elevate  to  the  throne  of  Syria.  Such  was  the  par- 
ticularity of  the  directions  which  the  prophet  received, 
both  as  regards  time  and  place,  for  the  discharge  of 
this  commission^  that  no  reasonable  doubt  can  be 
entertained  it  was  performed  with  all  possible  dis- 
patch, although  the  fact  of  its  occurrence  is  not  re- 
corded. It  is  conjectured  as  probable,  that  the 
ceremony  produced  but  little  impression  on  Hazael's 
mind,  as  he  was  then  young  and  obscure,  and  there 
seemed  no  prospect  of  his  ever  supplanting  his  power- 
ful royal  master,  Benhadad.  But  the  progress  of  years 


222  REFLECTIONS  ON  HAZAEL's  CASE  ;    OR, 

had  effected  quite  a  revolution  in  the  affairs  of  this 
youthful  Syrian.  He  had  now  risen  high  in  favor  at 
court,  and  was  the  most  intimate  and  trusted  servant 
of  his  sovereign.  It  may  well  be  supposed,  that  his 
very  situation  begot  aspirations  to  wdiich  he  had  for- 
merly been  a  stranger.  And  now,  that  he  had  been 
intrusted  by  the  king,  who  was  sick,  as  his  confiden- 
tial messenger  to  Ehsha,  to  inquire  whether  he  should 
be  restored  to  health,  it  is  certain  that  the  subject  of 
the  kingdom,  as  renewed  in  his  conversation  with 
this  successor  of  Elijah,  led  to  the  most  treasonable 
designs  and  acts  on  his  part.  He  approached  our  pro- 
phet then  with  a  magnificent  present,  and  in  the  most 
respectful  way,  "came  and  stood  before  him,  and 
said.  Thy  son  Benhadad,  king  of  Syria,  hath  sent  me 
to  thee,  saying.  Shall  I  recover  of  this  disease?"  "And 
Elisha  said  unto  him.  Go,  say  unto  him.  Thou  mayest 
certainly  recover;"  that  is,  there  is  nothing  necessarily 
fatal  in  the  character  of  thy  disease. 

You  will  here  note,  brethren,  the  designed  ambi- 
guity of  the  prophet's  reply.  "Howbeit,"  continues 
the  holy  man,  "  the  Lord  hath  shown  me  that  he  shall 
surely  die."  When  EUsha  had  delivered  this  inspired 
answer  to  the  Syrian  courtier,  "  he  settled  his  coun- 
tenance steadfastly"  upon  him,  "until  Hazael  was 
ashamed."  And  then,  as  if  overcome  through  the 
emotions  that  were  excited  by  the  events  which  he 
beheld  with  his  prophetical  eye,  it  is  stated  that  "  the 
man  of  God  wept."  "And  Hazael  said.  Why  weepeth 
my  lord  ?"  "  And  he  answered,  Because  I  know  the 
evil  that  thou  will  do  unto  the  children  of  Israel ;"  and 
then  specifies  the   dreadful   cruelties  which   Hazael 


THE  WORST  SINS  NATURAL  TO  MAN.  223 

should  afterwards  inflict  upon  tlie  people  of  God,  and 
how  he  w^ould  desolate  their  land.  "And  Hazael 
said,"  in  the  words  of  our  text,  "but  what,  is  thy 
servant  a  dog,  that  he  should  do  this  great  thing  ?" 
This  exclamation  hath  its  own  intrinsic  force.  The 
nature  of  the  dog  remains  unchanged.  He  is  still  de- 
graded to  the  vilest  place,  and  he  is  still  set  to  offices 
of  blood.  The  name  of  this  animal  the  Scriptures 
use  to  designate  persons  of  the  worst  and  most  savage 
propensities  and  habits.  '^^Dogs"  says  our  Saviour  in 
the  Psalms,  when  speaking  of  the  crowd  which  mocked 
him,  as  he  hung  upon  the  cross,  "  dogs  have  compassed 
me."  When  cautioning  against  those  who  would  meet 
any  attempt  by  others  for  their  spiritual  and  eternal 
good,  with  contempt  and  abuse,  Jesus  hkewise  says, 
in  his  sermon  on  the  Mount,  "  Give  not  that  which  is 
holy  to  the  dogs,  neither  cast  ye  your  pearls  before 
swine,  lest  they  trample  them  under  their  feet,  and 
turn  again  and  rend  you."  And  St.  John,  describing 
those  upon  whom  the  gates  of  the  New  Jerusalem  shall 
be  closed  on  the  last  day,  says:  "Without  are  dogs, 
and  sorcerers,  and  whoremongers,  and  whosoever  lov- 
eth  and  maketli  a  lie." 

It  is  here  plain,  how  sensibly  Hazael  was  hurt  by 
hearing  the  cause  of  Ehsha's  grief;  and  wdth  what 
sorrowful  indignation  he  repelled  the  idea  of  even  the 
possibility  of  the  prophet's  fears  being  reahzed.  But 
Hazael's  exclamation  of  horror  at  the  mention  of  his 
future  wickedness,  made  but  little  impression  on  the 
man  of  God.  He  dismissed  his  self-ignorant  com- 
panion, with  the  simple  and  sad  announcement:  "The 
Lord  hath  showed  me  that  thou  shalt  be  kinoj  over 


224  REFLECTIONS  ON  HAZAEL's  CASE  ;    OR, 

Syria."  What  different  effect,  as  has  been  well  re- 
marked, did  this  prophetical  intelligence  produce  upon 
Hazael's  mind,  from  that  which  a  similar  assurance 
wrought  upon  the  man  after  God's  own  heart.  The 
latter  waits  upon  God's  Providence  to  fulfil  God's 
word;  and  even  when  Saul,  whom  he  faithfully  served, 
and  who,  notwithstanding,  was  pursuing  him  with  the 
most  unrelenting  and  deadly  hostility,  was  dehvered 
into  his  hands,  he  yet  suffers  him  to  escape  unhurt. 
But  no  sooner  had  the  Syrian  courtier  separated  from 
EUsha,  than  he  conjures  up  a  false  report  of  the  pro- 
phet's answer  to  the  king,  saying,  *'  He  told  me  that 
thou  shouldest  surely  recover."  And  on  the  morrow,  he 
determines  to  accomplish  his  own  predicted  promotion 
in  the  most  diabolical  way.  He  entered  the  apartment 
of  his  sick  and  confiding  king,  and  spread  over  his 
face  a  thick  wet  cloth,  "  so  that  he  died ;"  "  and 
Hazael  reigned  in  his  stead."  Having  opened  a  way  for 
himself  to  the  throne  by  such  a  treacherous  and  deadly 
deed,  there  can  be  no  surprise  at  his  being  the  agent 
of  all  the  mischief  which  Elisha  had  foreseen. 

We  read  in  the  historians  and  prophets  of  Scripture, 
a  literal  fulfilment  by  Hazael  of  all  the  wicked  cruel- 
ties of  which,  when  he  was  foretold,  he  exclaimed : 
"  But  what,  is  thy  servant  a  dog,  that  he  should  do 
this  great  thing  ?" 

Such,  brethren,  is  the  striking  history  of  Hazael. 
But  it  would  iU  have  become  the  Scripture  to  record, 
or  us,  in  our  present  responsible  circumstances,  as  its 
minister,  to  have  rehearsed  these  particulars  of  his 
life,  if  they  were  singular  in  their  nature,  and  had  no 
instructive  application  to  om^selves.     My  hearers,  Ha- 


THE  WORST  SINS  NATURAL  TO  MAN.  225 

zael's  case  is  not  isolated.  It  serves  to  illustrate  that 
most  alarming  Scriptm*al  truth :  "  The  heart  is  deceit- 
ful above  all  things,  and  desperately  wicked :  who 
can  know  it?"  Some,  no  doubt,  will  be  shocked  at 
such  a  monster  of  iniquity  being  held  up  as  an  illus- 
tration of  human  nature.  But,  then,  was  not  Hazael 
himself  equally  indignant  at  being  supposed  capable 
of  his  subsequent  crimes  ?  Ah !  herein  Hes  the  hope- 
lessness of  man's  case.  He  wdll  not  seek  a  remedy, 
because  he  knows  not  the  extent  and  alarming  nature 
of  his  disease.  And  many  causes  combine  to  hide  the 
startling  truth  from  his  mind.  That  cause,  however, 
which  lies  at  the  root  of  all  the  rest,  is  this :  Man's 
fallen  condition,  while  he  remains  in  this  earthl}' 
state,  consists  not  so  much  in  wdiat  he  does,  as  in 
what  he  is ;  not  in  the  actual  enormities  which  he  does 
commit,  but  in  being  capable  of  and  meet  for  the  worst 
sins. 

Now,  it  will  perhaps  reveal  to  us,  in  some  measure, 
what  man  is  capable  of,  if  we  remark,  first,  that  ncj 
one  is  duly  aware  how  closely  united,  as  cause  and 
effect,  the  heart  and  the  life  are.  Earthly  cu-cum- 
stances  and  restraints  throw  such  a  barrier  in  the  wa}' 
of  the  indulgence  of  those  bad  feelings  which  we  are 
conscious  of,  that  unless  the  wish  ripen  into  absolute 
resolution,  and  even  act,  we  are  disposed  to  doubt  its 
strength,  and  to  extenuate,  if  not  really  deny,  its 
criminahty.  Let  each,  however,  but  honestly  accuse 
himself  of  such  wrong  desires,  as  he  must  remember 
himself  at  some  time  to  have  been  subject  to ;  let  him 
candidly  search  out  and  confess  the  utterly  selfish  and 
worldly  reasons  which  hindered  him  at  these  periods. 
15 


226  REFLECTIONS  ON  HAZAEL's  CASE  ;    OR, 

from  plunging  into  open  sin ;  and  surely  lie  will  begin 
to  suspect  his  heart  of  being  such  as  the  Saviour  de- 
scribes it,  the  source  of  "  evil  thoughts,  murders,  adul- 
teries, fornications,  thefts,  false  witness,  blasphemies." 
But,  though  man  judgeth  according  to  the  outward 
appearance,  let  us  not  forget  that  God  looketh  at  the 
heart ;  nay,  that  "  as  a  man  thinketh  in  his  heart,  so 
is  he."  Who,  then,  when  thus  tested,  will  be  indig- 
nant when  we  assert,  that  all  men  by  nature  are 
Hazaels  in  truth,  and  before  the  eye  of  God  ? 

But  if  those  who  were  ready  to  regard  Hazael  as 
an  extraordinary  instance  of  depravity,  are  thus  si- 
lenced when  appealing  to  their  hearts,  we  say,  let 
"  him  who  is  without  sin,  cast  the  first  stone."  What 
additional  cause  will  appear  for  all  being  included  under 
a  like  condemnation,  when  we  suggest  the  further 
undeniable  truth,  that  even  wishes  themselves  are  but 
a  very  partial  mode  of  judging  of  our  fallen  state. 
The  circumstances  in  which  we  are  placed  in  God's 
restraining  Providence  have  the  blessed  effect,  not 
only  of  checking  the  exhibition  in  outward  conduct 
of  evil  fruit,  but  even  of  preventing  the  growth  of 
sinful  weeds  in  our  heart,  though  its  soil  might  be 
well  suited  to  their  spontaneous  growth. 

We  are  so  constituted,  dear  friends,  as  to  cultivate 
generally  only  such  desires  as  are  adapted  to  our  situ- 
ations in  life.  See  how  Hazael  avoided  the  sin  of 
treason,  even  in  thought,  so  far  as  we  are  aware,  when, 
in  youth  and  obscurity,  the  crown  was  first  promised 
him  by  the  prophet.  But  when  he  was  elevated  in 
rank,  and  approached  nearer  the  throne — when  the 
splendors  and  attractions  of  royalty  were  continually 


THE  WORST  SINS  NATURAL  TO  MAN.  227 

spread  before  his  eye,  they  brought  out  what  was 
buried  alive  in  his  heart,  and  he  became  the  treacher- 
ous murderer  of  his  confiding  royal  patron.  When 
the  temptations  of  power  and  ambition,  too,  to  add  to 
his  empire  assailed  him,  he  waded  through  seas  of 
blood. 

A  fact  in  modern  history  will  serve  also  to  confirm 
our  position.  Before  a  literary  association  of  young 
men,  during  the  last  century,  it  is  stated,  that  a  dis- 
sertation against  "  capital  punishment"  was  read, 
which  excited,  by  the  humanity  of  its  sentiments 
and  the  cogency  of  its  reasoning,  unanimous  applause. 
That  production  is  now  chiefly  remarkable,  in  having 
had  for  its  author  a  man  who,  not  in  the  ardor  of 
battle,  but,  with  the  most  deliberate  and  inexorable 
unfeelingness,  made  Paris  and  France  to  flow  with 
blood.  It  need  only  be  said,  that  we  allude  to  Robe- 
spierre. 

"  The  heart  is  deceitful  above  all  things."  With 
the  utmost  ease,  in  its  ingenuity,  it  deceives  the  man 
himself.  It  will  aUow,  nay  it  wiU  cause  us  to  shudder 
with  horror  at  the  bare  recital  of  crimes,  of  which  our 
circumstances  absolutely  forbid  the  perpetration.  It 
will  thus  adorn  itself  with  a  species  of  factitious 
righteousness,  while  it  extenuates  or  wholly  excuses 
the  soul  in  indulging  in  those  temptations  which  for 
the  present  surround  it.  The  sins  of  childhood  are 
no  doubt  frequently  perpetrated  with  an  undisguised 
disapprobation  of  those  which  elder  brothers  and  sis- 
ters commit.  Those,  again,  just  entering  upon  fife — 
free,  however,  from  its  responsibilities  and  trials — 
amiably  engage  in  pursuits  and  pleasures  which  be- 


228  REFLECTIONS  ON  HxVZAEL's  CASE  ;    OR, 

tray  forgetfulness  of  God,  with  an  utter  horror  of  that 
absorbing  selfishness  and  covetousness  which  are  so 
obvious  in  many  heads  of  famihes.  These  last,  in 
their  turn,  loathe  the  complaining  fretfulness  of  the 
aged.  And  these,  too,  censure  the  ingratitude  and 
forgetfulness  of  the  young. 

Alas !  my  friends,  we  are  engrossed  with  others' 
faults ;  our  virtuous  indignation  is  aroused  against 
those  sins  to  which  we  are  not  tempted,  while  we  go 
on,  drinking  in  with  greediness  the  iniquity  which 
lies  in  our  way,  and  which  is  suitable  to  our  condition 
or  tastes.  But  the  fallen  heart  is  in  its  nature  one 
and  the  same.  Its  soil  needs  only  a  change  of  tem- 
perature. We  require  only  an  alteration  of  our  out- 
ward condition,  to  bear  feelings  and  wishes  and  con- 
duct, which  now  seem  foreign  to  our  character.  Hazael 
said,  "  But  what,  is  thy  servant  a  dog,  that  he  should 
do  this  great  thing  ?"  which  he  afterwards  engaged  in 
with  the  most  enthusiastic  ardor.  But  the  sophistry 
of  the  deceitful  heart  is  even  greater  yet.  It  not  only 
will  draw  distinctions  between  wishes  and  deeds — it 
not  only  w^ill  palliate  our  own  sinful  desires  and  indul- 
gences, by  exciting  deep  indignation  against  those 
which  are  not  suited  to  our  case,  but  it  will  even  blot 
out  from  the  tablet  of  memory  the  record  of  what  the 
hands  have  done  or  the  tongue  has  said.  "  Who  can 
recount  his  errors  ?"  Who  has  not  forgotten  the  sins 
which  he  has  absolutely  committed  ?  Who,  if  reported 
as  capable  of  perpetrating  what  he  may  often  have 
done,  would  not,  with  the  most  self-deceiving  indig- 
nation, exclaim :  "  What,  am  I  a  dog,  that  I  should  do 
this  great  thing  ?" 


THE  WORST  SINS  NATURAL  TO  MAN.  229 

"  The  heart  is  deceitful  above  all  things."  Neither 
would  it  be  so  "  desperately  wicked,"  if  it  were  not 
characterized  by  this  pre-eminent  deceit.  Look,  breth- 
ren, at  the  short  but  instructive  history  of  the  Fall. 
He  who  then  innoculated  us  with  his  spirit,  is  called 
"  the  deceiver."  And  does  not  the  mode  of  his  attack 
and  triumph  over  our  first  parents,  prove  that  the 
Scripture  has  justly  branded  him  with  the  name? 
When  Eve  was  brought  to  believe  that  she  should  not 
die  in  spite  of  God's  threat,  she,  in  being  deceived, 
imbibed  the  spirit  of  the  deceiver,  and  brought  herself 
and  children  under  the  curse  of  a  deceitful  heart.  So 
that  now,  notwithstanding  our  fallen  state,  and  proofs 
of  it  in  God's  word,  and  in  our  life,  both  on  the  right 
hand  and  the  left,  we  yet,  when  suspected  of  any 
wickedness  like  that  which  might  be  supposed  to  be 
derived  from  our  natural  father,  the  evil  one,  are  ready 
to  cry  out,  "  What,  are  we  dogs,  that  we  should  do 
this  great  thing  ?" 

Ah !  then,  let  us  not  suffer  such  deceitful  witnesses 
as  our  hearts  to  bear  testimony  in  this  matter.  Let 
us  go  to  him  to  whose  eye  all  things  are  open  and 
naked — to  whom  even  the  secrets  of  our  deceitful 
hearts  are  known,  and  learn  Avhat  our  fallen  character 
and  condition  are.  Hear,  now,  without  qualification 
or  reserve,  God's  true  testimony:  "Both  Jews  and 
Gentiles,  they  are  all  under  sin;  as  it  is  written, 
there  is  none  righteous,  no,  not  one ;  there  is  none 
that  understandeth,  there  is  none  that  seeketh  after 
God.  They  are  all  gone  out  of  the  way,  they  are 
together  become  unprofitable ;  there  is  none  that 
doeth  good;  no,  not  one.     Their  throat  is  an  open 


230  REFLECTIONS  ON  HAZAEl's  CASE  J    OR, 

sepulchre ;  with  their  tongues  they  have  used  deceit ; 
the  poison  of  asps  is  under  their  lips ;  whose  mouth  is 
full  of  cursing  and  bitterness.  Their  feet  are  swift  to 
shed  blood:  destruction  and  misery  are  in  their  ways; 
and  the  way  of  peace  have  they  not  known :  there  is 
no  fear  of  God  before  their  eyes." 

Such  is  the  charge  of  Paul,  who  spake  as  he  was 
moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  against  every  partaker  of 
human  nature.  And  now,  are  you  ready  to  exclaim 
with  Hazael :  "  But  what,  is  thy  servant  a  dog,  that 
he  should  be,  or  do,  anything  like  this  ?"  We  mean 
not,  my  unconverted  friend,  to  bring  any  charge  re- 
specting this  or  that  particular  sin.  This  is  not  within 
our  power,  and,  if  it  were,  it  is  not  our  province.  But 
we  insist,  that  such  you  are.  Your  temporal,  as  well 
as  your  spiritual  and  eternal  interests,  are  with  us 
objects  of  sincere  solicitude.  And  it  is  our  earnest 
desire,  respecting  each  of  our  flock,  that  he  may  be 
kept  from  such  sins  as  will  bring  down  on  him  even 
the  contempt  and  punishment  of  men.  But  in  faith- 
fulness we  warn  you,  that  so  long  as  you  continue 
without  Christ,  you  are  without  any  sufficient  security 
against  even  those  transgressions  which  are  generally 
denounced  in  this  fallen  world.  By  nature,  our  souls 
are  as  truly  under  the  curse  as  the  earth  on  which  we 
live.  Thorns  and  briars  doth  it  bring  forth ;  and  so 
sin  is  the  spontaneous  product  of  our  natural  hearts. 
It  may  be,  which  God  grant  for  your  own  sake  and 
that  of  your  friends,  that  you  may  be  restrained  from 
wishing,  much  less  committing  any  sins,  which  will 
deprive  you  of  the  sympathy  and  countenance  of 
fellow-meu.     But  it  becomes  me,  as  the  guardian  of 


THE  WORST  SINS  NATURAL  TO  MAN.  231 

your  soul,  to  warn  you,  that  if  it  remain  in  its  present 
state,  it  is  of  that  soil  which  bears  this  manner  of 
fruit ;  and  that  if  you  die,  and  escape  the  strife  and 
condemnation  of  the  tongues  of  men,  yet  you  carry 
into  the  next  world,  in  your  unconverted  soul,  a  fit 
companion  for  wicked  spirits  and  the  enemies  of  God. 
You  shall  be  left  "without,"  "where  are  dogs  and 
everything  that  defileth." 

What,  then,  you  need,  is  not  to  prevent  this  or  that 
little  stream  from  issuing  out  of  your  heart.  You 
need  the  fountain  to  be  made  pure  and  sweet.  It  is 
true  that  you  need  your  actual  sins  to  be  forgiven ; 
but,  above  all,  you  need  your  original  sin — that  of 
your  nature — those  sins  of  which  you  are  capable,  and 
for  which  you  are  ready;  to  be  pardoned,  and  washed 
awa}^  in  Jesus'  blood :  you  need  the  deceitful  and  des- 
perately wicked  heart  to  be  changed  by  the  good 
Spirit  of  God.  Oh !  then,  when  God  charges  you  in 
his  word  with  sin,  say  not  with  Hazael,  "  But  what,  is 
thy  servant  a  dog,  that  he  should  do  this  great  thing?" 
Ow^n  your  guilt;  feel  burdened  with  its  weight.  Look 
unto  Jesus,  who  remits  sin,  paying  its  debt,  and  wash- 
ing it  away  by  his  blood.  He  softens,  too,  hearts  that 
are  stony  by  nature,  and  grants  repentance  unto  life 
to  those  who  would  before  never  weep,  except  over 
disappointments  in  their  lusts.  He  leads  "captivity 
captive,"  and  draws  by  the  cords  of  love  to  holiness 
and  to  himself,  those  who  before  lived  under  willing 
bondage  to  sin  and  Satan. 

But  our  subject  is  not  without  its  lesson  for  the 
most  spiritually-minded  man  in  our  midst.  It  is  true, 
fellow-Christian,  that  before  you  became  a  justified 


232  EEFLECTIONS  ON  HAZAEL's  CASE  ;    OR, 

believer,  you  were  taught,  as  a  preliminary,  the  fact 
of  your  own  utter  deceitfulness  and  wickedness.  But 
the  leaven  of  the  old  nature  of  self-deceit  still  re- 
mains, to  a  fearful  degree,  in  the  best  on  earth.  And 
we  remind  you,  how  it  worked  in  the  man  after  God's 
own  heart,  and  in  the  most  ardent  of  all  our  Saviour's 
disciples  ?  Oh  !  when  we  read  the  indignant  condem- 
nation by  David  of  a  supposed  criminal  to  death,  for 
an  act  which,  however  aifectingly  depicted  by  Nathan, 
was  yet  vastly  less  culpable  than  that  which  the 
Psalmist  himself  was  habitually  committing  without 
compunction — who  that  thinketh  he  standeth,  should 
not  take  heed  lest  he  fall? 

When  we  hear  the  proud  and  confident  declaration 
of  Peter,  that  "though  all  men  should  be  offended 
because  of  Christ,  yet  would  not  he,"  on  the  very  night 
in  which  he  denied,  with  oaths  and  curses,  the  Lord 
who  was  buying  his  soul,  it  surely  becomes  us  "  not 
to  be  high-minded,  but  fear."  Christian  brethren,  we 
would  not  trouble  or  dishearten  you,  in  your  course. 
Oh !  there  are  all  needed  encouragements  in  our  case. 
He  who  hath  abided  faithful,  hath  entered  into  cove- 
nant with  our  souls.  In  the  end,  true  believer,  success 
and  glory  shall  crown  your  efforts,  through  whatever 
vicissitudes  and  tribulations,  temporal  or  spiritual,  you 
may  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

Besides,  what  abundant  promises  there  are,  that 
disciples  shall  be  kept  from  the  evil  that  is  in  the 
world.  The  glory  of  the  Saviour,  and  the  reputation 
of  his  people,  are  also  deeply  involved  in  your  life. 

When  the  Lord  thought  to  do  evil  to  his  people 
Israel,  on  account  of  their  ill-desert,  Moses  approached 


THE  WORST  SINS  NATURAL  TO  MAN.  233 

him  with  this  plea :  "  Wherefore  should  the  Egyptians 
say,  For  mischief  didst  thou  bring  them  out?"  and 
the  wrath  of  the  Lord,  for  his  own  name's  sake,  was 
stayed.  And  this  is  very  generally  a  prevalent  argu- 
ment with  God,  to  withhold  his  people  from  such  sins 
as  will  bring  offence.  And,  when  we  feel  the  strength 
and  frequency  of  even  the  grossest  temptations  which 
assault  the  people  of  God — how  often,  too,  these  lead 
captive  for  awhile  the  soul — when  w^e  consider  the 
numbers  of  Christ's  professing  people,  and  how  few  of 
them  comparatively  bring,  by  scandalous  offences,  re- 
ligion into  disrepute ;  and  of  these,  again,  how  small 
is  the  proportion  of  those  who  have  seemed  to  spirit- 
ual eyes,  before  their  fall,  truly  converted  souls : — Oh ! 
there  is  abundant  reason  to  give  thanks  and  take 
courage. 

But,  then,  brethren,  notwithstanding  all  this  and 
more,  God  looketh  at  the  heart.  He  is  more  jealous 
over  the  real  purity  of  his  people  than  he  is  over  their 
reputation.  It  needs  only  the  desertion  of  Christ's 
Spirit,  for  jou  to  act  like  a  dog,  returning  to  his  own 
vomit  again.  Oh !  then,  be  poor  in  spirit.  Listen  not 
to  the  whisperings  of  your  deceitful  heart,  that  you 
have  so  grown  in  grace  as  to  be  endued  with  some 
strength  of  your  own.  Ileal  growth  consists  in  an 
increased  feeling  of  om'  own  weakness  and  vile  ten- 
dencies. In  such  weak  persons,  God's  strength  is 
perfected.  Without  Christ,  you  not  only  can  do 
nothing  good ;  you  are  not  only  unable,  of  yourselves, 
to  think  anything  holy,  but  it  needs,  as  we  see  by  our 
Saviour's  interceding  prayer,  God's  restraining  grace 
to  keep  the  best  disciples  from  the  worst  evil  that  is 


234  REFLECTIONS  ON  HAZAEL's  CASE,  ETC. 

in  the  world.  And  though  it  should  humble  and  make 
us  tremble,  and  cause  us  to  look  up  with  strong  crying 
and  tears  to  Christ ;  yet  it  should  not  surprise  us  to 
hear,  that  the  most  prominent  and  exemplary  saint  in 
the  church  had  f\illen  under  any  of  the  possible  temp- 
tations of  the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the  devil.  We 
exhort  you,  then,  always  approach  God  in  this  state 
of  heart,  feeling  your  natural  proneness  to  the  most 
diabolical  wickedness,  your  entire  dependence  upon 
Christ's  Spirit  to  sustain  you  therefrom.  "We  implore 
you,  in  your  intercourse  with  fellow-Christians  and 
the  world,  let  it  scripturally  appear  that  you  feel 
yourself,  in  yourself,  capable  of  the  most  heinous 
transgressions.  And  even  with  these  self-humbling 
views,  be  jealous  of  the  still  lurking  deceitfulness  of 
your  imperfectly  sanctified  heart.  Not  only  avoid 
Hazael's  presumptuous  ignorance  of  self,  but  with 
David,  in  his  best  days,  suspect  that  there  is  mischief 
lurking  within  that  has  not  yet  been  discovered,  and 
pray:  "Search  me,  0  God!  and  know  my  heart;  try 
me,  and  know  my  thoughts ;  and  see  if  there  be  any 
wicked  way  in  me,  and  lead  me  in  the  way  everlast- 
I  ing !"     Feel,  pray,  hve  thus ;  and  we  promise  you,  in 

'  Christ's  name  and  strength,  power  to  do  all  things. 

You  shall  not  only  overcome  yoiu"  spiritual  foes,  within 
and  without,  but  you  shall  do  all  those  good  works 
unto  which  you  were  created  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  in 
which  God  hath  before  ordained  that  you  should 
walk ;  you  shall  live  to  the  praise  of  God's  justifying 
and  sanctifying  grace  on  earth,  and  be  exalted  to  that 
glory  hereafter  Avhich  is  to  be  revealed  in  Christ. 


SEMON   XVI. 


THE  CASE  OF  JEHU  CONSIDERED;   OR,  THE  NECESSITY 
OF  SINGLENESS  IN  ZEAL, 


2  Kings  X.  IG. 
"  Come  with  me,  and  see  my  zeal  for  the  Lord." 

What  a  dazzling  sword  in  the  hands  of  God,  was 
the  man  who  uttered  these  words !  The  time  had 
then  arrived  for  the  threatening  prophecies  which  had 
gone  before,  upon  the  family  of  Ahab,  to  be  fulfilled. 
The  blood  of  Nabotli  and  the  idolatries  of  Jezebel 
must  now  be  avenged.  Never  was  a  royal  house  more 
firmly  established,  however.  Samaria  w^as  flourishing, 
and  Jezreel  was  deemed  impregnable.  Not  only  had 
Joram,  the  son  of  Ahab,  happily  succeeded  his  father, 
but  his  seventy  brethren  ensured  the  succession,  and 
strengthened  his  own  popularity.  All  was  peace  at 
home,  and  Joram's  armies  were  victorious  abroad. 
The  king  might  thus  wxll  flatter  himself  with  the 
prospects  of  an  undisturbed  and  prosperous  reign,  and 
regard  the  hostile  predictions  of  Elijah  and  Micaiah, 
the  prophets  of  God,  as  the  spleen  of  enthusiasts  and 
malcontents.  From  this  cloudless  sky,  however,  God 
sends  his  deadly  and  unsparing  bolt.  Jehu  was  the 
dazzling  sword  by  which  God  executed  his  wrathful 
purpose. 


236  THE  CASE  OF  JEHU  CONSIDERED  ;    OR, 

While  Joram's  army  was  occupying  Ramoth-Gilead, 
from  Aviiich  he  had  retired  to  Jezreel  to  be  cured  of 
some  slight  wounds,  Ehsha,  under  the  divine  direction, 
commissions  one  of  the  younger  prophets  to  hasten  to 
the  fortress,  and  to  anoint  Jehu,  the  son  of  Jehosha- 
phat,  as  king  of  Israel.  When  the  prophetic  mes- 
senger arrived,  he  found  the  man  to  whom  he  had 
been  sent,  in  utter  unconsciousness  of  the  exaltation 
which  awaited  him,  sitting  and  conversing  with  the 
other  captains  of  the  host.  Almost  terrified  with  the 
greatness  and  danger  of  his  commission,  the  young 
prophet  entered  the  company  of  these  men  of  war, 
and,  apparently  without  looking  specially  at  any  one 
of  them,  said :  "  I  have  an  errand  unto  thee,  0  cap- 
tain." "  Unto  which  of  all  of  us  ?"  asked  Jehu,  who 
seems  to  have  been  the  leading  spirit  of  this  fearful 
band.  "And  he  said.  To  thee,  0  captain."  Upon  this 
announcement,  the  sacred  historian  records,  that  Jehu 
rose  and  retired  with  the  prophet  to  an  inner  chamber 
of  the  house,  where  the  box  of  oil  was  emptied  on  his 
head,  and  he  was  greeted  by  the  prophet  as  the  king 
of  Israel,  whom  God  had  appointed  to  extirpate  the 
wicked  and  idolatrous  house  of  Ahab.  No  sooner 
was  his  errand  thus  discharged,  than  the  prophet 
opened  the  door  and  fled. 

Marvellous,  indeed,  Avas  the  reception  which  the 
intelligence  of  what  had  been  done,  met  at  the 
hands  of  Jehu's  warlike  companions.  How  apparent 
is  the  hand  of  God!  The  prophet  is  denounced  by 
them  as  a  mad  fellow,  before  they  are  acquainted  with 
the  subject  of  liis  communication;  but  immediately 
upon  hearing  it,  they  are  seized  with  the  enthusiastic 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  SINGLENESS  IN  ZEAL.  237 

determination  of  furthering  his  object.  Each  taking 
off  his  garment,  they  made  with  the  clothes  a  kind  of 
extemjDore  throne,  and  placing  their  colleague  on  the 
heap,  they  "  blew  with  trumpets,  saying,  Jehu  is  king." 
In  this  extraordinary  method,  was  a  most  formidable 
conspiracy  at  once  formed  against  the  supremacy  of 
Joram.  We  all  know,  too,  with  what  resistless  speed 
it  was  brought  to  a  successful  issue.  Tidings  of  the 
revolt  were  kept  from  Joram  by  confining  all  within 
the  city ;  and,  with  a  chosen  band,  Jehu  set  out  to 
discharge  the  deadly  commission  with  Avhich  he  had 
been  entrusted  by  the  Lord.  As  a  divinely-appointed 
avenger,  there  was  in  him  no  turning  aside  to  the  right 
hand  or  the  left.  He  rode  furiously  onward,  making  all 
whom  he  met,  even  Joram's  messengers,  follow  in  his 
train.  Nor  is  he  daunted  by  the  presence  of  his  royal 
master,  who,  wdth  fatal  confidence,  rode  out  in  his 
chariot  to  meet  him,  as  he  came ;  but,  to  the  king's 
question,  "  Is  it  peace,  Jehu  ?"  replied,  "  What  peace, 
so  long  as  the  whoredoms  of  thy  mother,  Jezebel,  and 
her  w^itchcrafts  are  so  many  ?"  At  this  abrupt  and 
uncompromising  answer,  Joram,  crying  to  his  brother- 
in-law,  the  king  of  Judah,  who  had  accompanied  him, 
"  There  is  treachery,  0  Ahaziah,"  turned  to  flee.  But 
with  a  strong  and  unerring  arm,  Jehu  drew  a  bow, 
and  drove  an  arrow  through  his  body  at  the  heart. 
Nor  was  even  Ahaziah,  as  a  probable  avenger  of  the 
conspiracy,  suffered  to  escape ;  for  he,  too,  was  killed 
in  his  chariot,  by  Jehu's  servants,  at  their  master's 
command. 

Riding  triumphantly  into  Jezreel,  he  ordered  Jeze- 
bel, who  upbraided  him  from  a  window  of  her  palace, 


238  THE  CASE  OF  JEHU  CONSIDERED  ;    OR, 

to  be  thrown  out  by  any  within  the  house  who  were 
disposed  to  be  on  his  side.  By  her  terror-struck 
courtiers  this  was  forthwith  done :  and  the  mangled 
body  of  the  idolatrous  and  persecuting  queen  was, 
according  to  Elijah's  prediction,  doA^oured  by  the  dogs. 
The  work  of  vengeance,  however,  was  but  just  begun. 
At  the  requisition  of  Jehu,  the  city  of  Samaria  sent 
him  the  heads  of  Ahab's  seventy  sons.  Having  thus 
brought  the  kingdom  into  subjection,  he  set  out  from 
Jezreel  on  a  visit  to  Samaria ;  and,  while  journeying, 
he  found  forty-two  of  Ahaziah's  kinsmen,  who  were 
coming  from  Judah  to  see  the  king  and  queen.  These, 
too,  were  slain  at  his  command ;  and  soon  after,  meet- 
ing with  Jehonadab,  the  son  of  Rechab,  distinguished 
for  his  temperance  and  strict  adherence  to  the  worship 
of  God,  he  formed  with  him  a  league,  and  invited  him 
to  take  a  seat  in  his  chariot,  saying,  (in  the  w^ords  of 
our  text,)  "  Come  with  me,  and  see  my  zeal  for  the 
Lord."  With  what  adoring  wonder  at  the  righteous 
judgment  of  God,  and  yet  with  what  misgiving  at  the 
character  of  the  instrument  employed,  must  this  up- 
right servant  of  Jehovah  have  witnessed  what  imme- 
diately ensued !  Under  the  pretext  of  confirming  and 
extending  the  existing  idolatrous  religion  of  the  State, 
Jehu  assembled  the  prophets  of  Baal ;  and  after  they 
had  sacrificed  to  their  false  god,  he  killed  them  all, 
without  w^arning  or  exception,  on  the  spot. 

Having  thus  destroyed  the  seed  royal,  and  ridden 
himself  of  the  idolatrous  hierarchy  who  were  attached 
to  the  preceding  dynasty,  Jehu  felt  himself  safely 
seated  on  his  newly-acquired  throne;  and  his  zeal, 
which    he  before  delighted  in  displaying,  forthwith 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  SINGLENESS  IN  ZEAL.  239 

flagged.  His  whole  concern  seemed  now  to  be  to 
confirm  his  power;  and  he  pursued  that  course  of 
pohcy  which  he  supposed  best  adapted  to  this  end. 
The  high  places,  where  idolatrous  sacrifices  were 
offered,  were  still  maintained ;  and  the  people  were 
discouraged  from  going  up  to  Jerusalem,  as  the  law  of 
God  required,  at  the  appointed  feasts,  lest  they  might 
become  attached  to  the  house  of  David,  which  reigned 
there,  and  prove  disaffected  to  liimself.  Known  sins 
of  omission  and  commission  were  thus  countenanced, 
lest  the  national  differences  between  Judah  and  Israel 
should  be  merged  by  growing  intercourse,  and  Jehu's 
posterity  should  be  dethroned,  by  the  tribes  returning 
to  their  old  allegiance  to  the  house  of  David. 

It  would  not  excite  our  surprise,  therefore,  if  we 
had  read  that  Jehu  had  been  punished,  in  the  provi- 
dence of  God,  for  committing  the  same  crimes  which 
he  had  avenged  upon  the  house  of  Ahab;  but  it  has 
greatly  perplexed  commentators  to  explain  how  it  was 
that  Hosea,  a  succeeding  prophet,  was  inspired  to  de- 
nounce and  threaten  the  house  of  Jehu,  because  of  the 
blood  which  their  founder  had  shed  in  Jezreel,  espe- 
cially when  he  was  God's  appointed  executioner  in 
this  act,  and,  more  particularly^,  when  God  had  pro- 
mised him,  as  a  reward  for  this  very  thing,  that  his 
posterity  should  sit  upon  the  throne  of  Israel  to  the 
fourth  generation.  How  can  any  course  of  conduct  be 
both  right  and  wrong?  How  can  a  just  and  unchange- 
able God  reward  and  punish  the  same  act?  These 
points  are  no  less  difficult  of  adjustment  than  they 
are  important  in  themselves.  They  wiU,  in  the  sequel, 
be  made  clear;  but  there  are  other  instructive  lessons 


240  THE  CASE  OF  JEHU  CONSIDERED  ;    OR, 

taught  by  Jehu's  case ;  an  understanding  of  which  is 
necessary,  in  order  that  the  questions  which  have 
been  asked  may  receive  satisfactory  repUes. 

We  remark,  then,  first :  That  God,  in  accomplishing 
his  just  and  gracious  purposes,  frequently  makes  use  of 
wicked  men.  That  Jehu  was  ungodly  and  selfish,  the 
concise  history  already  given,  clearly  proves  :  his  sole 
object  was  to  advance  his  own  ends.  He  may  have 
flattered  himself  that  he  was  actuated  by  zeal  for 
God,  from  the  fact  that  a  divine  command  had  been 
issued  for  the  execution  of  that  which  he  was  doing, 
and  because  all  the  people  of  God  were  engaged  on 
the  same  side  with  himself;  but  he  did  not  obey  God, 
even  when  he  did  that  which  God  commanded.  He 
did  not  please  God,  even  when  he  did  that  which  God 
desired  to  have  done;  he  served  himself,  and  not 
God,  even  when  he  did  that  which  God  required.  He 
was  contented  to  go  as  far  in  what  God  commanded 
as  served  his  own  turn,  but  there  he  stopped.  So  far 
as  would  contribute  towards  his  own  advancement  and 
settlement  upon  the  throne,  so  far  he  went  in  the  way 
which  God  had  marked  out,  but  no  farther. 

A  quaint  writer  has  compared  a  heart  like  this  to 
the  hand  of  a  rusty  dial.  "  Suppose,"  says  he,  "  the 
hand  of  a  rusty  dial  stand  (as  now)  at  10  o'clock ; 
look  upon  it,  and  it  seems  to  go  right,  but  it  is  not 
from  any  inward  right  state  of  the  clock  it  does  so, 
but  by  accident;  for  stay  till  after  10,  and  come  again 
at  11  or  12,  and  it  stands  still  as  before  at  10.  So 
let  God  command  anything  that  may  hit  with  a  man's 
own  ends,  and  be  suitable  to  him,  and  he  seems  to  be 
obedient  to  God ;  but  let  God  go  on  further,  and  re- 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  SINGLENESS  IN  ZEAL.  241 

quire  something  that  will  not  serve  his  turn,  that  will 
not  agree  with  his  own  ends ;  and  here  God  may  seek 
for  a  servant;  as  for  him,  he  will  go  no  further." 

Now,  some  may  not  see  how  it  is  consistent  for  the 
holy  God  to  employ  such  instrumentality,  and  to  use 
wicked  men  to  eftect  his  righteous  purposes.  But  the 
Scriptures  frequently  represent  God  as  so  doing;  and 
the  devout  mind,  instead  of  experiencing  any  difficulty 
in  justifying  it,  adores  the  wisdom  and  power  of  that 
overruling  providence  which  can  make  even  the  wa'ath 
of  man  to  praise  the  Most  High;  which  can  use  the 
gifts  and  talents  of  even  the  ungodly,  in  effecting  the 
deliverance  of  God's  cause,  or  in  conferring  a  blessing 
on  God's  peoj^le. 

Brethren,  the  pen  of  many  a  waiter,  which  has  been 
wielded  with  the  sole  object  of  advancing  the  hterary 
reputation  of  him  who  held  it,  has  yet  been  used  to 
remove  some  stigma  which  rested  on  the  secret  ones 
of  Christ,  or  to  present  some  subject  in  a  new,  but 
correct  light,  and  thus  free  from  hurtful  misconception 
the  advocates  of  the  truth.  Many  a  worldly-minded 
statesman,  too,  in  the  pursuit  of  office,  has  yet  been 
instrumental  in  relieving  the  people  of  God  from  severe 
oppression;  because  such  a  course  of  policy  would 
make  him  popular.  Many  a  conqueror,  also,  seekmg 
only  mihtary  reputation,  or  a  crown,  has  done  the 
same  thing  under  the  pretext  of  deUvering  the  Church 
of  Christ  from  bondage.  Now,  when  the  injuries  to 
be  remedied  are  past  or  distant,  we  may  be  disposed 
to  view  the  use  of  such  instrumentality  with  a  censo- 
rious eye;  but  when  they  come  near  our  own  times,. 
16 


242  THE  CASE  OF  JEHU  CONSIDERED;    OR, 

or  affect  our  own  interests,  we  cannot  but  admire  tlie 
justice  and  propriety  of  such  a  course. 

When  Jehu  was  raised  up  to  avenge  the  deaths  of 
the  Naboths,  and  of  God's  prophets,  and  to  dehver 
those  who  still  continued  to  be  persecuted  and  threat- 
ened with  extremity,  we  may  be  lost  in  a  God-dishon- 
oring amazement;  but  when  a  Henry  the  VIII,  with 
equal  selfish  and  diabolical  ends,  destroys  the  Papal 
supremacy,  and  delivers  the  cause  and  souls  of  Christ's 
people  from  this  iron  despotism,  we  receive  the  gra- 
cious boon  with  even  a  more  thankful  and  adoring 
heart,  because  it  was  conferred  through  such  a  channel. 
Whenever  carnal  weapons  are  to  be  used,  and  blood 
must  be  shed,  it  would  seem  to  be  a  most  considerate 
ordering  towards  his  people,  on  the  part  of  God,  to 
effect  their  deliverance  by  ungodly  agents.  Let  us 
then,  brethren,  learn  to  seek  for  other  proofs  of  our 
spiritual  character  and  condition,  than  the  bare  fact  of 
our  being  zealously  engaged  on  what  is  undoubtedly 
the  side  of  God,  or  than  because  the  true  people  of 
God  are  our  coadjutors,  or  look  upon  us  as  their  de- 
hverers:  for  in  effecting  his  own  glorious  purposes, 
God  often  uses  the  worst  of  men. 

But  we  proceed  to  remark,  secondly,  that  the  per- 
version of  our  duties  and  of  the  divine  precepts  to  our 
otvn  ends  immeasurohly  enhances  our  guilt.  Let  us 
illustrate  this.  Is  a  man,  then,  we  ask,  culpable  for 
an  improper  and  intoxicating  use  of  spirituous  liquors  ? 
Are  all  the  disastrous  effects  which  he  brings  upon 
himself  by  such  an  indulgence  only  a  just  infliction  ? 
Will  he  be  unable  to  answer  when  God  calls  him  to 
an  account  for  having  employed  one  of  his  wise  gifts 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  SINGLENESS  IN  ZEAL.  243 

for  SO  beastly  a  purpose?  But  of  how  much  sorer 
punishment  shall  he  be  thought  guilty,  who  perverts 
the  best  blessings  which  have  been  vouchsafed  fallen 
men,  which  indeed  are  the  channels  through  which 
some  foretaste  of  heaven  may  be  enjoyed  on  earth,  to 
his  own  vile,  selfish  purposes ;  who  employs  the  means 
of  grace  themselves  to  promote  his  own  private  ends ! 
If  a  man  come  up,  for  instance,  to  the  assembling  of 
the  saints,  or  if  he  engage  in  prayer  and  praise,  or  if 
he  approach  the  table  of  the  Lord,  or  if  he  ascend  the 
pulpit,  and  all,  or  any,  with  worldly  and  unscriptural 
ends — is  not  such  a  perversion  of  heaven's  choicest 
gifts,  worse  than  using  strong  drinks  to  intoxication? 
Is  not  the  turning  of  "the  solemn  meeting  into  in- 
iquity" more  criminal  than  drunkenness  ?  Is  not  such 
specious  zeal  in  the  service  of  the  Lord,  as  Jehu's, 
equivalent  to  spiritual  forgery,  which  is  the  worst  of 
all  the  sins  that  are  included  under  that  name  ?  Does 
it  not  tend  to  foster  distrust  in  the  mind  of  every 
beholder  in  the  reality  of  true  religion,  and  in  any 
substantial  difference  between  the  righteous  and  the 
wicked?  Is  it  not,  moreover,  an  attempt  to  impose 
outward  conduct,  the  mere  shell  of  true  service,  and  a 
pretended  motive,  upon  the  Most  High  God,  as  though 
he  were  not  the  searcher  of  hearts  ? 

If,  now,  a  hypocrite  like  this,  should  undertake  to 
denounce,  and  even  punish  a  fellow-man  for  idolatries 
and  following  his  own  lusts,  and  not  engaging  in  the 
worship  of  the  true  God — although  his  judgment  may 
be  in  itself  just,  and  according  to  the  will  of  God, 
although  the  penalty  which  he  inflicts  may  be  de- 
served by  the  victim — yet,  in  the  sight  of  God,  is  not 


244  THE  CASE  OF  JEHU  CONSIDERED;    OR, 

such  a  judge  or  executioner  liimself  unjust?  should 
he  not  be  held  responsible  for  the  very  suffering  he 
inflicts,  under  the  pretended  zeal  for  God's  claims,  but 
with  the  real  design  of  promoting  his  own  aggrandize- 
ment?    Was  not  Jehu,  then,  when  he  killed  Joram, 
at  the  command  of  God,  for  the  sin  of  idolatry,  guilty 
of  murder,  smce  he  was  himself  at  the  very  moment 
an  idolater  in  heart,  and  continued  to  be  such  in  prac- 
tice to  the  day  of  his  death.     Was  not  God,  therefore, 
infinitely  just,  when  he  exacted  of  Jehu's  idolatrous 
house,  the  blood  which  its  founder,  moved  by  a  pre- 
tended indignation  at  the  sin  of  idolatry,  spilt  in  Israel, 
although  it  was  God's  command  that  that  blood  should 
be  shed?      God,  brethren,  is  a  God  of  judgment; 
neither  can  he  be  mocked !     Thou  who  killest  a  man 
for  worshipping  idols,  dost  thou  commit  sacrilege  ? — 
then  thou  art  not  only  an  idolater,  but  a  murderer. 
Thou  who  sayest  a  man  should  not  steal,  dost  thou 
gteal? — then  thou  art  not  only  a  thief,  but  an  unjust 
judge.     Oh!  brethren,  let  us  beware  how  we  under- 
take even  the  service  of  God,  lest  that  service  itself 
be  considered  a  worse  sin  than  all  the  sins  which  we 
virtually  denounced  by  professing  to  be  Jehovah's 
servants. 

But  we  remark,  thirdly,  God,  as  the  sovereign  of  the 
earth,  may  most  justly  hestoiv  temporal  blessings  on  ivicJced 
men  for  their  oidivard  services. 

Much  good  was  accompHshed  through  wicked  Jehu's 
instrumentality;  the  idolatrous  house  of  Ahab  was 
exterminated;  Baal's  priesthood  was  punished;  the 
prophets  and  people  of  God  were  allowed  to  worship 
him  without  fear.     For  the  accomplishment  of  this, 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  SINGLENESS  IN  ZEAL.  245 

Jehu  had  been  designated  by  God;  and  he  who  esti- 
mates earthly  rewards  by  the  manner  in  which  they 
are  used;  who  turns  even  temi^oral  blessings  into 
curses,  when  they  are  possessed  by  his  enemies ;  he 
who  exalts  the  basest  of  men  to  the  seat  of  power  for 
the  wickedness  of  them  who  dwell  in  the  land ;  God, 
we  say,  might  well  in  accordance  with  these  principles, 
anoint  Jehu  as  king,  and  promise,  on  account  of  the 
extent  of  that  outward  obedience  which  Jehu  had  paid 
to  his  commands,  to  confirm  him  in  the  kingdom  to  the 
fourth  generation.  On  the  very  same  principle,  God, 
brethren,  rewards  even  natural  amiability  with  the 
attachment  of  wives,  and  children,  and  servants :  and 
the  mere  wise  industry  of  unconverted  men,  he  follows 
with  worldly  wealth.  The  proper  use  of  our  birth- 
gifts  and  talents,  are  all  appropriately  recompensed 
with  earthly  good;  and  this  God  most  wisely  does,  as 
the  Supreme  Governor  of  the  present  state — his  ad- 
ministration of  Avhich  is  a  deepty-laid  scheme — all 
mysteriously  working  out  the  destinies  of  his  friends 
and  foes  in  that  world,  where  the  righteous  shall  be 
had  in  everlasting  remembrance,  and  the  wicked  shall 
rise  to  shame  and  everlasting  contempt. 

We  remark,  then,  lastly,  on  this  case,  that,  aWwngh 
God  hcstoiv  UmiJoral  rewards  on  tJie  selfish  and  douhle- 
mindedfor  their  zeal,  yet  he  loilljusthj  hold  them  respon- 
sible, and  punish  them  for  that  unsanctified  seal  hereafter. 
Otherwise,  indeed,  God  could  not  be  the  pure  and  just 
God  which  he  claims  to  be.  If  he  received  the  unclean 
into  spiritual  communion  with  himself;  if  he  cleared 
the  guilty,  it  would  be  inconsistent  with  his  own  un- 
changeable nature.     Of  all  this,  the  unbeheving  and 


246  THE  CASE  OF  JEHU  CONSIDERED;    OR, 

unrenewed  have  been  faithfully  forewarned;  and  if 
they  have  blinded  and  persuaded  themselves  to  the 
contrary,  when  they  have  had  the  assurance  of  his 
word,  which  cannot  fail,  to  that  eifect;  if,  because 
they  are  in  the  possession  of  God's  temporal  benefits, 
they  conceive  that  they  are  in  a  state  of  acceptance 
with  him,  and  are  heirs  of  salvation,  then,  when  they 
awake  up  hereafter  as  outcasts;  when  they  lift  up 
their  eyes  with  the  rich  man  in  hell;  the  sudden  and 
unexpected  destruction  will  have  been  brought  upon 
themselves.  God  will  still  be  just,  although  he  bereave 
them  of  their  abused  temporal  blessings,  and  punish 
them  with  everlasting  destruction  from  his  presence 
and  from  the  glory  of  his  power.  Thus  Jehu's  idola- 
trous house  was  hurled  from  their  seat  of  earthly 
power,  and  at  length  punished  in  hell,  as  murderers, 
for  what  w^as  seemingly  and  outwardly  zealous  obedi- 
ence to  the  commands  of  God. 

And  now,  brethren,  in  apphcation  of  this  entire  case, 
which  we  trust  you  thus  fully  understand  in  all  its 
bearings  and  principles,  at  least  two  reflections  should 
be  made.  First,  vje  see  the  necessity  of  a  single  eye  to 
the  glory  of  God,  in  all  that  lue  undertaJce  for  him. 
Zeal  in  God's  service  is  indeed  a  most  praiseworthy 
duty  and  grace.  "It  is  good,"  says  the  great  apostle, 
"always  to  be  zealously  affected  in  a  good  thing." 
Such  charms,  moreover,  had  mere  blind  earnestness 
in  even  Paul's  eyes,  that  he  was  filled  with  desires 
for  the  salvation  of  his  countrymen :  "/or  I  bear  them 
record,"  said  he,  "that  they  have  a  zeal  for  God,  but 
not  according  to  knowledge."  Nor  was  this  inspired 
man  singular  in  this  respect.     Among  errorists,  we 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  SINGLENESS  IN  ZEAL.  247 

cannot  choose  but  admire  those  who  are  devoted  and 
consecrated  to  the  furtherance  of  their  false  principles, 
rather  than  those  who  seem  to  be  indifferent,  and  who 
merely  make  some  outward  profession,  in  order  to 
retain  their  places  and  livings.  Hence  it  is,  that  par- 
tial respect  and  sympathy  have  been  excited  among 
Christ's  enlightened  followers  for  those  who  have  so 
earnestly  of  late  endeavored  to  introduce  Popery  into 
our  pure  and  Protestant  branch  of  the  Church  of  God. 
The  aspiration  is  often  felt  and  expressed,  "Would 
that  the  mists  which  surround  these  benighted  laborers 
might  be  dispelled  by  the  Sun  of  Righteousness;  and 
that  this  misspent  fervor  might  be  purified  and  used 
in  the  service  of  the  true  Christ !"  while  all  are  indiff- 

CD 

nant  against  the  mere  high  and  dry,  and  feel  prompted 
only  to  drive  them  as  drones  from  our  spiritual  hive. 
Still,  brethren,  the  Redeemer  in  whom  we  profess 
to  beheve,  hath  said:  "If  thine  eye  be  single,  thy 
whole  body  shall  be  full  of  Hght;  but  if  thine  eye  be 
evil,  thy  whole  body  shall  be  full  of  darkness."  What 
will  prove  in  the  end  to  be  the  true  Church  of  Christ 
is  not  distinguished  from  the  world  as  one  visible 
organization  is  from  another.  We  are  not  transplanted 
from  one  to  the  other  by  any  outward  profession;  even 
though  we  be  as  zealous  as  Jehu  himself,  and  be  em- 
boldened to  invite  the  Jehonadabs  to  "come  with  us, 
and  see  our  zeal  for  the  Lord."  The  true  Church 
differs  from  the  w^orld  as  hght  from  darkness;  and 
unless  our  natures  be  changed,  unless  w^e  have  been 
born  again,  we  have  never  entered  the  kingdom  of 
God ;  we  still  serve  self,  that  idol  of  the  natural  man, 
whether  he  be  wdthin  or  without  the  pale  of  the  visible 


248  THE  CASE  OF  JEHU  CONSIDERED;    OR, 

Church;  we  have  only  changed  the  place  in  which, 
and  the  means  hy  which  we  endeavor  to  exalt  our- 
selves. Before,  it  was  the  world  and  worldly  things 
which  we  perverted  to  our  own  advancement;  now,  it 
is  the  Chm-ch  of  Christ  and  the  blessed  means  of  grace. 
Among  all  who  have  discernment,  if  we  be  self-seekers, 
even  our  good  is  evil  spoken  of;  and  although  it  may 
be  said  of  us  that  in  this  world  we  have  our  reward, 
yet  we  shall  only  be  exalted  to  heaven,  that  when  we 
are  thrust  down  to  hell,  our  fall  and  destruction  shall 
be  worse.  "Whether,  then,  we  eat  or  drink,  or  w^hat- 
soever  we  do,"  brethren,  let  us  with  the  eye  of  the 
new-creature,  kept  constantly  single  and  clear,  "  do  all 
to  the  glory  of  God."  But,  let  us  not,  like  Jehu, 
flatter  ourselves,  and  call  upon  others  to  witness, 
our  "zeal  for  the  Lord,"  when  we  are  only  serving 
self  Let  us  remember,  moreover,  that  for  judging 
Joram,  Jehu  was  judged  of  the  Lord,  because  he  re- 
served for  himself  somewhat  of  Joram's  sin;  and  let 
us  be  therefore  careful  not  to  condemn  unsparingly  a 
brother  who  has  a  beam  in  his  eye,  while  we  retain 
even  a  mote  in  our  own.  But  while,  thus,  by  the 
terrors  of  the  Lord,  we  urge  upon  you  the  duty  and 
necessity  of  singleness  in  zeal;  we  would  not  forget, 
in  conclusion,  that  even  a  David  shrank  from  the 
service  of  Gocl^  because  TJ^zaJi  was  struck  dead  for  fid- 
ting  forth  his  hand,  ivith  a  Hind  zeal,  to  steady  and 
iq)hoId  the  ark. 

It  is  just  such  tender  and  enlightened  consciences 
as  the  psalmist's,  who  are  most  aware  of  the  corruption 
and  deceitfulness  of  their  own  hearts;  who  know  best 
how  mixed  are  even  their  purest  motives;  and  Avho 


THE  NECESSITY  OF  SINGLENESS  IN  ZEAL.  249 

are  continually  crying  out,  "  Search  us  and  prove  us, 
and  see  if  there  be  any  evil  way  in  us,  and  lead  us  in 
the  way  everlasting."  It  is  just  such,  who,  when 
they  fear  that  God  will  be  strict  to  mark  iniquity, 
stand  in  dread  of  either  saying  or  doing  anything  in 
God's  behalf,  lest  they  should  only  offend  him  wdth 
whom  they  have  to  do,  and  injure  themselves.  But 
such  apprehensions  arise  only  from  the  misconceptions 
of  unbehef  "  By  the  deeds  of  the  law  shall  no  flesh 
be  justified."  The  imperfect  righteousness  of  believers 
in  Jesus  is  accepted  and  prized  by  God.  Jehu  was 
not  condemned  and  punished  because,  through  crea- 
ture infirmity,  he  was  unable  to  accomphsh  all  that 
God  commanded;  but  because,  in  what  he  did  and 
left  undone,  his  sole  object  was  to  advance  his  own 
interests.  If,  with  a  sincere  heart,  he  had  offered  aU 
that  he  did  to  God,  and  had  mourned  because  he  could 
not  effect  all  that  God  enjoined,  he  would,  through 
Jesus,  have  been  accepted  in  his  deed.  So,  if  we 
have  true  and  earnest  desires  to  fulfil  all  God's  holy 
will,  both  in  our  feelings  and  our  lives;  if  we  grieve 
over  the  ill-desert  of  what  we  have  done,  and  over  all 
that  remains  unattempted ;  if  we  present  Jesus'  right- 
eousness as  the  plea  for  the  acceptance  of  our  offering; 
if  we  supplicate  for  additional  strength  from  the  Spirit 
to  subdue  aU  the  land  that  remains  to  be  possessed; 
we  shall  not  be  cast  out;  but  our  offering  will  be  a 
"  spiritual  sacrifice,  acceptable  to  God  by  Jesus  Christ." 
Let  it,  then,  be  the  single  aim  of  our  heart,  and  the 
effort  of  our  hands,  to  make  aU  we  "design,  or  do,  or 
say,"  to  unite  in  advancing  the  glory  of  God;  and 
however  much  we  may  come  short,  yet,  if  our  sole 


250  THE  CASE  OF  JEHU  CONSIDERED,  ETC. 

reliance  be  on  Jesus'  righteousness  and  death,  we  shall 
not  be  rejected,  when  "  we  do  with  our  might  what 
our  hands  find  to  do."  On  the  contrary;  while  all 
who  wrap  their  talents  in  a  napkin  and  bury  it,  shall 
be  punished;  God  shall  receive  us  with  approval. 
''Let  us,  therefore,  stand  fast  in  the  liberty  wherewith 
Christ  hath  made  us  free ;"  and  without  fear  or  doubt- 
ing, strive  to  have  in  us,  both  in  its  character  and 
degree,  the  same  mind  which  was  in  Him,  of  whom  it 
is  written:  "The  zeal  of  thine  house  hath  eaten  me 
up. 

Having,  therefore.  Gospel  promises,  dearly  beloved, 
let  us  cleanse  ourselves  from  all  filthiness  of  the  flesh 
and  spirit,  perfecting  holiness  in  the  fear  of  God. 


SEEMON  XVII. 


THANKS  TO  THE  AUTHOR  OF  MERCIES. 


Hos.  ii.  21,  22. 


"  I  WILL  HEAR,  SAITn  THE  LoRD,  I  WILL  HEAR  THE  HEAVENS;  AND  THET 
SHALL  HEAR  THE  EARTH;  AND  THE  EARTH  SHALL  HEAR  THE  CORN, 
AND  THE  WINE,  AND  THE  OIL;  AND  THEY  SHALL  HEAR  JeZREEL." 

This  passage  most  graphically  establishes  a  truth 
which  is  theoretically  admitted  on  all  sides,  but  is 
practically  forgotten  by  many,  and  with  which  we 
propose,  by  the  consideration  of  the  text,  to  impress 
ourselves  anew,  that  we  may  more  hopefully  enforce 
on  your  consciences  a  few  obvious  and  important 
duties. 

Our  attention  is  first  claimed,  then,  by  the  expo- 
sition of  the  text.  Hosea  hved  in  an  age  preceding 
the  captivity  into  which  the  tribes  were  sent,  on  ac- 
count of  their  sins.  His  prophecy  consequently  con- 
tains many  threatenings  of  evil,  in  order  to  intimidate 
the  wicked — mingled,  however,  with  promises  of  good, 
in  order  to  encourage  the  faithful.  Our  text  forms 
one  of  the  most  striking  intimations  of  the  blessings 
which  God  intended  to  bestow  on  his  people,  when 
they  had  drunk  the  dregs  of  that  cup  of  trembling 
which  he  was  then  mixing  in  his  righteous  vengeance. 
It  uses,  however,  a  term  to  designate  the  tribes  while 


252  THANKS  TO  THE  AUTHOR  OF  MERCIES. 

enjoying  their  future  freedom  and  prosperity,  which 
had   but   recently  been   invented,  in  yiew  of  their 
threatened  and  deserved   calamities.     It  is  a  term, 
too,  which  denotes  either  a  blessing  or  a  curse,  Jez- 
reel  signifies  both  soivn  and  scattered — possibly  from 
the  fact,  that  the  sower  scatters  his  seed  on  every 
side.     The  name  Avas  originally  applied  to  the  Israel- 
ites, in  the  prospect  of  their  being  scattered  over  the 
face  of  the  earth,  as  they  now  are.     It  could,  in  this 
connection  only,  convey  terror  to  their  minds.     But 
as  God  never  sends  upon  his  people  an  unmixed  and 
eternal  curse;  as  he  only  "visits  their  transgression 
with  the  rod,  and  their  iniquity  with  stripes,  but  does 
not  take  utterly  from  them  his  loving-kindness,  nor 
suffer  his  faithfulness  to  fail :"  so  here  he  saw  fit  to 
indicate  his  gracious  intention  by  the  double  meaning 
of  the  name  by  which  he  called  them ;  though  scattered 
and  apparently  lost,  yet  should  they  ultimately  spring 
up  like  seed,  and  become  more  flourishing  and  abund- 
ant than  in  all  the  past.     Thus  did  God  most  impres- 
sively endeavor  to  furnish  his  covenant  people  wdth 
hope  during  their  approaching  adversity,  and  to  divest 
them  of  pride  in  their  subsequent  prosperity.     It  is 
Israel,   then,    once    scattered   and    cursed,   but   now 
gathered  and  blessed;  it  is  the  covenant  people   of 
God,  humbled  in  view  of  their  past  sins  and  sufferings, 
and  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  all  the  blessings  of  their 
predicted  restoration,  who  are  referred  to,  under  the 
name  of  Jezreel,  in  our  text. 

But  what  are  the  benefits  here  promised  to  the 
natural  seed  of  Abraham,  and  which,  in  their  fulness, 
it  would  seem,  are  yet  to  be  bestowed  ?     Let  us  begin 


THANKS  TO  THE  AUTHOR  OF  MERCIES.  253 

at  the  end  of  tlie  stream,  and,  step  by  step,  trace  it 
to  its  source.  Here,  then,  we  find  Jezreel,  the  needy 
outcasts  of  Israel,  gathered,  by  the  providence  and 
grace  of  God,  once  more  into  his  safe  fokl.  In  them- 
selves, they  are  as  destitute  and  wretched,  as  when 
they  were  "  scattered  and  peeled :"  they  are  the  very 
embodiment  of  wants  and  dependencies,  which  on 
every  side  cry  out  for  their  appropriate  supphes  and 
helps. 

But  the  difference  consists  in  this — Then,  Jezreel 
was  deserted  and  made  to  feel  his  necessities,  now, 
they  are  all  relieved  and  prevented;  then,  his  cry 
was  disregarded,  now,  Ave  are  told,  that  Jezreel  is 
heard.  But  by  whom?  or  rather,  we  should  ask, 
By  what  ?  By  no  intelligent,  or  even  living,  object ; 
but  by  senseless  and  inanimate  things;  by  things, 
however,  capable  of,  and  necessary  to,  his  sustenance. 
As  if  endued  with  the  sense  of  hearing,  and  possessed 
of  the  most  self-sacrificing  compassion — all  that  was 
required  to  support,  and  cheer,  and  comfort  the  recon- 
ciled people  of  God,  "corn,  wine  and  oil,"  offer  them- 
selves as  ready  for  consumption — they  hear  the  cry 
of  Jezreel,  and  present  themselves  upon  his  table, 
and  the  late  needy  outcast  is  furnished  with  a  bounte- 
ous store. 

But,  in  the  striking  figure  of  our  inspired  prophet, 
these  material  necessaries  of  life  are  further  repre- 
sented as  deeply  solicitous  about  their  own  exhaus- 
tion— as  apprehensive  lest,  after  they  are  consumed, 
Jezreel  should  again  suffer  want;  and  they  accordingly 
cry  out  to  the  prolific  source  of  their  own  existence,  to 
the  earth  from  which  they  sprung,  to  replenish  their 


254  THANKS  TO  THE  AUTHOR  OF  MERCIES. 

decreasing  stock.  Nor  was  the  appeal  unheard.  For 
not  only  is  the  earth  described  as  exerting  all  its  vegeta- 
tive strength,  and  profusely  bearing  fruit,  but  as  being, 
in  its  turn,  fearful  lest  all  its  own  resources  should 
be  expended;  lest  the  drought  should  desiccate  its 
productive  juices,  and  bhght  the  land  with  dearth, 
and  as  praying  to  "  the  heavens"  not  to  withhold  the 
early  and  the  latter  rain.  The  heavens,  too,  cordially 
answer  the  petition ;  they  spontaneously  gather  their 
moisture  into  clouds,  which  empty  themselves  in  genial 
and  fructifying  showers  on  the  fields.  But  the  heavens, 
the  supreme  and  commanding  link  in  the  chain  of  crea- 
ture causes,  also  distrust  the  extent  of  their  own 
means,  and  sympathizing  with  all  their  subordinate 
agents,  in  the  supply  of  Jezreel's  wants,  they  look  up 
to  him  who  liveth  in  their  ow^n  immensity,  and,  as  the 
organ  of  the  universe,  they  suppHcate  him  in  whom 
all  fullness  dwells,  and  whom  giving  impoverisheth 
not,  neither  doth  withholding  render  rich,  perpetually 
to  renew  their  energies,  and  make  them  unceasingly 
to  discharge  their  part.  Nor  to  this  appeal  is  he  deaf 
from  whom  had  been  derived  the  desire  and  power  of, 
all  the  other  creatures  to  perform  their  office;  for,  "it 
shall  come  to  pass  in  that  day,  I  will  hear,  saith  the 
Lord,  I  will  hear  the  heavens ;"  I  will  furnish  them 
with  abundant  resources  to  fructify  the  earth,  that  it 
may  impart  nutritious  qualities  to  its  own  fruits,  and 
that  they  may  plentifully  support  the  people  whom  I 
have  restored,  and  whom  it  will  henceforth  please  me 
to  bless. 

Thus,  brethren,  it  most  beautifully  appears,  by  our 
text,  to  be  a  scriptural  doctrine,  that,  however  varied 


THANKS  TO  THE  AUTHOR  OF  MERCIES.  255 

and  numerous  may  be  the  links  in  the  chain  of  second 
causes  by  which  blessings  are  conferred,  it  is  yet  God 
who  worketh  all  and  in  all ;  it  is  he  who  empowers  the 
heavens  to  fructify  the  earth,  that  it  may  produce  its 
corn  and  Avine  and  oil  for  the  use  of  Jezreel.  God 
sitteth  in  the  heavens  exalted  over  all ;  and  when  he 
hath  a  mind  to  bless,  the  creatures  gladly  lend  their 
aid,  all  nature  acts  in  concert,  and  in  one  harmonious 
voice,  its  several  parts  ask  the  privilege  of  furthering 
with  their  might  the  purpose  of  his  grace.  This  is  the 
cardinal  principle,  in  the  government  of  the  world, 
taught  by  our  text ;  and  it  will  afford  us  some  practi- 
cal lessons  at  the  close.  But  there  yet  remain  one  or 
two  points  in  the  words  before  us,  which  require  some 
reference  ere  we  can  legitimately  and  profitably  reach 
this  end. 

It  would  appear,  then,  from  this  explanation  of  our 
text,  that  a  day  is  to  come,  in  which  God's  ancient 
people  shall  renounce  their  infidelity,  be  taken  again 
under  his  Almighty  wing,  and  enjoy  his  abundant 
blessing.  All  the  means  necessary  for  their  highest 
improvement  and  happiness  will  be  there  i^lentifully 
vouchsafed.  Both  in  soul  and  body,  shall  they  be  the 
favored  recipients  of  God's  heavenly  benediction  and 
grace.  The  whole  face  of  nature  will  then  be  changed : 
the  curse  now  resting  on  the  earth  shall  be  removed ; 
it  shall  no  longer  bear  thorns  and  briars,  but  it  shall 
be  restored  to  its  paradisiacal  state ;  it  shall  be  easily 
kept  and  dressed,  and  almost  spontaneously  bear 
fruits,  compared  with  which  the  grapes  of  Eshcol 
shall  be  diminutive.  Then  shall  have  arrived  the 
period  predicted   by  St.  Paul,  when  "the  creature 


256  THANKS  TO  THE  AUTHOR  OF  MERCIES. 

shall  be  delivered  from  the  bondage  of  corruption; 
under  which  it  now  groans,  into  the  glorious  liberty  of 
the  sons  of  God."  The  incarnate  Son  of  God  will 
prove  himself  to  have  been  an  effectual  Redeemer^  ex- 
alting the  earth  above  its  original  and  unfallen  state. 
God  will  show,  in  that  restitution  of  all  things,  to 
what  an  extent  he  can  clothe  his  inanimate  creation 
with  productive  energy,  and  how  much  corn  and  wine 
and  oil  his  earth  can  bear,  when  he  hears  the  heavens, 
and  commissions  them  from  their  enlarged  and  re- 
plenished capacities,  without  restriction,  to  put  forth 
their  fructifying  strength. 

Such,  then,  are  the  glorious  prospects  of  the  natural 
seed  of  Abraham,  when,  as  is  foretold,  they  shall  be- 
come all  righteous,  and  shall  turn  unto  the  Lord :  a 
redeemed  and  renewed  creation  shall  be  rendered  by 
the  energetic  operation  of  a  present  God,  gladly  and 
unreservedly  tributary  to  their  special  wants.  "It 
shall  come  to  pass  in  that  day  that  I  wdll  hear,  saith 
the  Lord,  I  will  hear  the  heavens;  and  they  shall 
hear  the  earth ;  and  the  earth  shall  hear  the  corn  and 
the  wine  and  the  oil ;  and  they  shall  hear  Jezreel." 

But  are  we,  brethren,  as  Gentile  believers,  excluded 
from  all  interest  in  this  promised  blessed  state? — a 
state  in  Avhich  the  material  plenty  and  happiness, 
alluded  to  in  the  text,  however  desirable  in  itself,  are 
yet  chiefly  valuable  as  a  token  of  that  perfect  accep- 
tance which  exists  between  God  and  those  who  live 
in  its  midst,  and  of  the  intimate  communion  which  is 
carried  on  between  him  Avho  conferred,  and  those  who 
enjoy  it.  I  ask.  Are  w^e  excluded  ?  This  is  surely 
not  the  ground  assumed  by  inspired  Paid.     There 


THANKS  TO  THE  AUTHOR  OF  MERCIES.  257 

may  be,  indeed,  special  services  and  privileges  re- 
served for  those  who  believe,  among  the  natural  seed 
of  the  father  of  the  faithful.  This  is  more  or  less 
clearly  indicated.  But  then,  as  all  who  are  unbe- 
lievers among  them  shaU  be  shut  out,  so  all  who 
believe  among  us  shaU  be  embraced. 

In  all  essential  respects,  the  middle  waU  of  partition 
between  Jews  and  Gentiles  has  been  broken  down 
under  the  Gospel  dispensation ;  and  God,  by  his  Son, 
hath  reconciled  both  in  one  body  unto  himself:  so 
that  now  every  one  who  is  of  faith,  be  he  Jew  or 
Gentile,  the  same  is  a  child  of  faithful  Abraham.  It 
is,  then,  the  privilege  of  every  follower  of  Christ,  to 
look  forward  with  hope,  as  an  heir  of  the  promise  in  our 
text,  when  Zion  shall  be  co-extensive  with  the  earth, 
and  the  unclean  shall  not  dwell  there ;  when  every 
mark  of  the  curse  shaU  be  removed  from  a  world 
effectually  redeemed;  when  God's  face  shall  arise  and 
shine,  and  give  peace  and  abundance  to  all  on  whom 
it  rests ;  and  when,  as  an  instance  and  proof  of  his 
completed  reconciliation,  faith  shall  no  longer  be  tried 
by  even  temporal  destitution  and  distress,  but  he 
"  win  hear  the  heavens ;  and  they  shaU  hear  the  earth ; 
and  the  earth  shall  hear  the  corn  and  the  wine  and  the 
oil ;  and  they  shall  hear  his  spiritual  Jezreel." 

But,  we  ask  again.  Has  our  text,  and  the  principle 
in  God's  government  which  it  establishes,  no  applica- 
tion in  the  present  state?  How  clearly  wiU  it  be  seen, 
when  our  prophecy  is  fulfilled,  that  every  good  and 
perfect  gift  descendeth  from  the  Father  of  lights ! 
With  what  spontaneous  gratitude  will  every  redeemed 
beneficiary  of  the  Lord,  then  receive  blessings  at  his 
17 


258  THANKS  TO  THE  AUTHOR  OF  MERCIES. 

hand.  However  numerous  the  second  causes  through 
which  God  will  then  confer  his  favors,  his  presence 
will  be  easily  recognized  in  all.  No  atheist,  or  infidel, 
or  ingrate  shall  then  Uve ;  for  all  shall  walk  by  sight. 
But,  Christian  brethren,  if  the  abundance  which  shall 
then  reign  will  call  forth  feelings  of  this  kind,  should 
not  the  present  ample  provision  for  our  wants  and 
comforts  excite  the  same  emotions,  and  prompt  to 
every  suitable  expression  of  them  in  our  lives  ?  Oh ! 
there  is  something  peculiarly  impressive  in  the  manner 
and  degree  in  which  God  supplies  our  necessities  under 
the  existing  dispensation  of  his  grace !  As  an  evidence 
of  his  displeasure  against  smners,  his  curse  rests  upon 
the  very  earth  on  which  fallen  men  reside ;  but,  as  a 
blessed  token  of  the  love  which  he  bears  to  his  re- 
deemed, this  curse  is  not  permitted  to  exert  its  full 
force,  as  in  the  case  of  that  fig-tree  against  which 
Jesus'  word  went  forth,  and  which  was  withered  at  its 
roots.  Judgment  is  now  mingled  with  mercy,  for  the 
sake  of  God's  chosen  and  secret  ones ;  the  faithful  are 
thus  privileged  to  see  an  irresistible  attribute  of  God, 
on  their  account,  met  by  another  equally  strong,  and 
stayed  in  its  exhibition  and  course.  They  are  autho- 
rized, therefore,  in  an  especial  manner,  to  view  every 
blessing  received  as  a  proof  of  God's  great  present 
favor,  and  as  a  foretaste  of  that  unmixed  and  over, 
flowing  cup  of  divine  love  which  shall  be  put  into 
their  hand,  when  faith  shall  be  lost  in  sight  and  hope 
in  fruition ;  yea,  every  partial  blessing,  every  stinted 
crop,  every  flower  embosomed  among  thorns,  is  a  sin- 
gular instance  of  God's  present  delight  in  us,  and  a 
foreshadowing  of  the  day  in  which  he  "  will  hear  the 


THANKS  TO  THE  AUTHOR  OF  MERCIES.  259 

heavens,  and  the  heavens  shall  hear  the  earth,  and 
the  earth  shall  hear  the  corn  and  the  wine  and  the 
oil ;  and  they  shall  hear  his  spiritual  Jezreel." 

We  come,  now,  in  conclusion,  to  derive  a  few  prac- 
tical lessons  from  our  text.  We  are  here,  then,  impres- 
sively taught  the  momentous  truth,  that  God  is  the 
great  First  Cause  of  every  blessing.  It  is  an  unscrip- 
tural  idea  to  conceive  of  God  as  planning  and  putting 
into  execution  the  system  of  nature,  and  then  leaving 
it  to  its  own  senseless  operation.  He  maintains  a 
constant  and  minute  supervision;  so  that  there  is 
nothing  done  which  is  not  according  to  the  counsel  of 
his  will.  However  perfect  the  machinery  of  nature, 
it  would  soon,  in  all  its  parts,  cease  to  work,  and  be 
brought  to  confusion,  unless  God  were  present,  work- 
ing all  in  all ;  giving  or  withholding  virtue  from  the 
works  of  his  own  hands,  and  commissioning  them  to 
bereave,  or  bless,  the  souls  with  whom  he  deals.  The 
heavens  above  us  would  be  brass,  and  the  earth  under 
us  would  be  iron,  unless  God  heard  them,  and  sent 
rain.  For  the  fruitful  showers  and  plentiful  harvests, 
therefore,  which  have  crowned  the  present  year,  we 
are  indebted  to  God,  not  only  as  the  original  Creator 
of  those  second  causes  which  were  visibly  concerned 
in  their  production,  but  as  the  present  Provider  for 
our  wants,  through  their  instrumentality.  This  is  a 
momentous  Bible  truth,  laying  at  the  foundation  of  all 
communion  between  God  and  our  souls. 

But,  secondly,  God  would  have  us  recognize  his  hand 
in  the  blessings  tve  receive.  Nor  will  mere  theory  on 
this  point  meet  his  requirements  and  expectations. 
Few  there  are  so  heaven-daring  as  to  maintain  a  creed 


260  THANKS  TO  THE  AUTHOR  OF  MERCIES. 

which  banishes  God  from  the  management  of  his  own 
work ;  still,  how  many  practically  are  "  without  God !" 
how  many  show  that  they  say  in  their  hearts,  "  there 
is  no  God !"  How  few  ever  trace,  in  their  own  minds, 
any  blessing  they  enjoy,  through  the  second  causes 
hy  which  they  received  it,  to  the  bounteous  source 
from  which  it  originally  sprung,  and  then  flowed, 
through  creature  channels,  into  their  cup !  As  the 
farmer  leaves  a  full  supply  at  their  doors,  are  there 
many  who  look  beyond  the  money  which  they  pay  for 
what  he  brings  ?  Do  they  ever  follow  him  into  his 
fields,  from  which  they  receive  their  food,  and  hear 
the  earth  crying  to  the  heavens,  and  the  heavens  to 
God,  and  see  an  answering  God,  through  them,  pro- 
viding the  corn  and  wine  and  oil,  with  which  their 
tables  are  so  plentifully  spread  ? 

Nor  will  a.  formal  recognition  of  God's  hand  suffice. 
We  may  even  publicly  acknowledge  our  dependence 
upon  the  divine  hand  before  every  meal;  and  yet  it  may 
be  only  Up-service.  He,  to  whose  eye  all  things  are  open 
and  naked,  may  wonder  that  we  do  not  sincerely  and 
deeply  adore  his  bounteous  hand.  He  may  express 
his  astonishment  at  us,  as  he  did  in  these  words,  over 
some  of  old :  "  Neither  say  they  in  their  heart,  Let 
us  now  fear  the  Lord  our  God,  that  giveth  rain."  Nor 
will  an  occasional  exhibition  of  the  feeling  of  depen- 
dence answer  the  end.  God's  mercies  are  new  every 
morning,  and  repeated  every  evening ;  and  as  we  are 
in  their  constant  reception,  so  there  should  be  a  habit- 
ual consciousness  of  their  origin.  As  there  is  an  un- 
ceasing stream  of  substantial  blessings  downwards,  so 
there  should  be  at  least  a  constant  flow  of  confession 


THANKS  TO  THE  AUTHOR  OF  MERCIES.  261 

upwards,  acknowledging  that  it  is  from  God's  hand 
they  all  proceed. 

But  we  are  taught,  thirdly,  by  our  text,  to  have 
thankful  hearts  for  the  Uessings  we  receive.  It  is  possi- 
ble that  some  may  have  learnt  even  the  two  lessons 
previously  mentioned,  and  yet  be  practically  ignorant 
of  this.  So  evident  were  the  presence  and  agency  of 
God  to  the  Israelites  in  the  wilderness,  that  they  must 
have  denied  the  evidence  of  their  senses,  if  they  dis- 
believed their  dependence  on  the  divine  arm;  and  yet 
of  what  presumptuous  ingratitude  were  they  guilty ! 
May  it  not  be,  too,  that  our  education,  observation, 
and  experience  have  taught  us  the  supervision  of  an 
Almighty  and  Omniscient  Being  in  the  management  of 
the  world ;  and  yet,  instead  of  our  receiving  his  provi- 
dential blessings  with  grateful  hearts,  w^e  may  meet 
his  fatherly  chastisements,  or  his  trials  of  our  faith, 
through  sovereign  delays  in  gratifying  our  wishes  and 
supplying  our  wants,  by  impatience  and  murmurings  ? 
We  may  receive  good  at  the  hands  of  the  Lord,  as  a 
thing  in  course ;  but  if  he  send  evil,  we  may  be  ready 
to  denounce  it  as  severe,  if  not  unjust. 

Oh  !  brethren,  no  suitable,  no  true  gratitude  to  our 
heavenly  Father  is  ever  felt,  unless  we  have  been 
humbled  by  a  full  understanding  of  our  natural  rela- 
tions to  him,  and  have  been  brought  into  a  gracious  and 
redeemed  state.  It  is  only  through  the  Spirit  of  Christ 
that  we  are  effectually  taught  our  own  ill  desert,  and 
are  made  abidingly  to  feel,  that  "  it  is  of  the  Lord's 
mei'cies  that  Ave  are  not  consumed."  It  is  only  at 
the  foot  of  Jesus'  cross,  that  we  learn  the  great  and 
unmerited  love  of  God,  and  are  induced  to  beheve 


262  THANKS  TO  THE  AUTHOR  OF  MERCIES. 

that  "  he  who  spared  not  his  own  Son,  but  dehvered 
him  up  for  us  all,  will  also  with  him  freely  give  us  all 
things."  It  is  only  by  a  conscious  entering  into  that 
covenant  with  God,  which  is  "  sealed  with  the  blood 
of  his  Son,"  and  ''  ordered  in  all  things  and  sure," 
that  we  attain  the  right  and  confidence  of  viewing 
"  all  things"  as  working  together  for  our  good,  and  are 
emboldened  in  everything  to  "give  thanks."  But 
when  we  are  brought  into  this  saving  relation- 
ship with  God,  then  we  are  able  to  meet  every  dis- 
pensation of  his  hand  with  the  mind  which  was  in 
Jesus,  when  he  said :  "  The  cup  which  my  Father 
hath  given  me,  shall  I  not  drink  it?"  Then,  it  is 
blessed,  with  a  heartfelt  gratitude,  to  witness  with 
the  eye  of  faith,  God  hearing  the  heavens ;  and  they 
hearing  the  earth;  and  the  earth  hearing  the  corn 
and  the  wine  and  the  oil ;  and  they  hearing  us. 

But,  finally,  we  are  taught,  by  our  text,  to  shoiv 
forth  our  thankfulness  in  our  lives.  Brethren,  shall 
even  inanimate  creatures  join  Jesus  in  his  inter- 
cession in  our  behalf — shall  the  earth  cry  to  the 
heavens,  and  the  heavens  appeal  to  God,  and  shall 
he  hear  and  answer  their  prayers  for  our  good,  and 
shall  we  be  deaf,  when  God  himself  entreats  ?  And 
does  he  not  address  us  in  the  most  urgent,  winning 
tones  ?  saying,  "  Turn  ye,  turn  ye ;  for  why  will  ye 
die  ?"  And  again,  "  Son,  daughter,  give  me  thy  heart." 
Shall  any  of  us  remain  numbered  with  those  who  are 
professedly  negligent  of  the  greatest  manifestation  of 
his  love,  his  unspeakable  gift,  the  dehverance  up  of 
his  Son  ?  Oh !  be  persuaded,  if  we  be  indifferent  for 
the  provision  of  a  Saviour,  we  are  thankless  for  all 


THANKS  TO  THE  AUTHOR  OF  MERCIES.  263 

the  blessings  which  were  purchased  for,  and  flow  to 
us,  through  his  redeeming  work.  Begin,  then,  to  show 
your  gratitude,  by  receiving  Christ  into  your  hearts 
through  faith,  as  he  knocks  and  asks  for  entrance 
there.  Let  the  love  of  Christ  ever  after  constrain  you 
to  live  no  longer  unto  yourselves,  but  unto  him  who 
died  for  you  and  rose  again.  Consecrate  yourselves 
to  the  furtherance  of  his  cause,  and  to  the  good  of  his 
people.  As  the  Lord  is  not  deaf  to  the  creatures 
which  advocate  your  cause,  so  do  you  lend  a  listening 
and  compassionate  ear  to  the  cry  of  the  Lord's  poor ; 
and  freely  give  of  that  which  you  have  freely  received. 
As  I  point  you  to  the  Lord  in  the  impressive  and 
attractive  attitude  of  our  text,  hearing  the  heavens  as 
they  plead  in  your  behalf,  in  answer  to  the  cry  of  the 
earth,  be  moved  to  compliance,  as  "  I  beseech  you  by 
the  mercies  of  God,  that  ye  present  your  bodies  a 
living  sacrifice,  holy,  acceptable  unto  God,  which  is 
your  reasonable  service :  and  be  not  conformed  to  this 
world,  but  be  ye  transformed  by  the  renewing  of  your 
mind,  that  ye  may  prove  what  is  that  good  and  accep- 
table and  perfect  will  of  God." 


SERMON  XYIII. 


WORLDLINESS  AND  ITS  RESULTS. 


James  iv.  4. 


"  Know  te  not  that  the  friendship  of  the  world  is  enmity  with 
God?  Whosoever,  therefore,  will  be  a  friend  of  the  world, 
IS  the  enemy  of  God." 

We  often  liear  of  treaties  of  alliance  offensive  and 
defensive,  whereby  men  bind  themselves  to  regard 
each  others'  differences  and  contests  with  the  rest  of 
the  world  as  their  own,  and,  at  the  risk  of  their  for- 
tunes and  lives,  to  make  a  common  cause.  Circum- 
stances, perhaps,  requke  this  arrangement  occasionally; 
though  the  wise  and  conscientious  will  avoid  such 
covenants  with  their  fellow-men,  as  much  as  in  them 
lies.  But  in  many  cases  of  the  kind,  it  is  only  active 
co-operation  that  is  looked  for ;  and  we  may  invariably 
disapprove  the  policy  and  justice  of  the  cause  in  which 
our  allies  are  engaged.  No  man,  no  fallible  creature, 
has  the  right  or  the  power  to  enchain  our  minds,  and 
demand  a  regard  for  his  person  which  will  sanction, 
with  our  inward  approbation,  all  his  conduct,  and  that, 
too,  without  questioning  whether  it  be  right  or  wrong. 
Nay,  we  go  further,  and  declare  that  the  friendship, 
which  is  too  common  in  the  world,  which  espouses  a 
cause  through  prejudice  and  from  respect  to  the  person 


266  WORLDLINESS  AND  ITS  RESULTS. 

of  one  who  is  loved,  no  humble  and  truly  wise  man 
prizes.  Friendship  between  men  should  never  be 
blind,  but  be  able  to  see  and  own  faults.  We  would, 
too,  have  our  friend  the  friend  of  every  human  enemy 
we  may  have  upon  earth;  we  would  have  him  seek 
the  highest  good  of  such  a  one,  and  insist  upon  the 
most  charitable  construction  of  his  character  and 
course,  and  the  most  charitable  conduct  towards  him, 
both  from  us  and  from  every  other  person.  The  peace- 
maker who  is  worthy  of  being  called  such,  and  who, 
in  this  character,  is  the  child  of  God,  Avhatever  may 
be  his  connection  with,  or  his  inward  promptings  to- 
wards one  of  two  murderous  spirits,  should  be  able  on 
the  field  to  fall  on  the  neck  of  the  other,  and,  with 
real  interest  in  his  welfare  for  time  and  eternity,  entreat 
him  to  desist  from  his  deadly  purpose. 

It  may  be  very  flattering  to  our  self-love  to  have 
friends  of  a  different  stamp  from  this ;  w^e  may  be 
ready  to  renounce  a  friendship  which  can  throw  itself 
into  the  arms  of  a  foe ;  but  all  else  is  fickle  as  the 
creature,  and  cannot  for  a  moment  be  depended  on. 
Give  me  the  friend  who  loves  every  man ;  who  con- 
sults justice  and  mercy  before  he  follows  any  private 
feelings  he  may  have  towards  me.  So  long  as  I  am 
worthy  of  his  approbation,  so  long  as  I  can  be  happy 
in  myself  or  others,  just  so  long  will  I  have  his  counte- 
nance and  co-operation.  Such  a  one,  though  he  reprove 
my  course,  will  still  love  me.  Such  a  one,  if  wronged, 
will  yet  forgive  his  erring  friend.  And  if  so  far  for- 
getful of  my  duty  towards  God  and  man,  as  to  forfeit 
his  intimacy,  such  a  one  will  still  be  kind.  But,  who 
knows  not  that  the  closest  friendship,  based  on  sym- 


WORLDLINESS  AND  ITS  RESULTS.  267 

pathy  of  dispositions,  or  on  any  worldly  thing,  and 
which  leads  to  respect  of  persons,  is  sundered  by  the 
slightest  shock  ?  Every  respecter  of  my  person  has 
one  other  whom  he  respects  more  than  me ;  and  any 
of  my  many  thoughtless  words  or  looks,  any  unac- 
countable suspicion  in  his  own  breast,  may  cause  me 
to  be  invited  to  give  that  satisfaction  which  is  known 
among  worldly  friends. 

These  remarks  will  serve  to  establish  a  difference 
between  the  friendship  of  Christians  and  that  of  other 
men ;  but  our  present  purpose  is  to  infer  from  them, 
that  between  fallible  creatures,  there  should  never  be 
an  alliance  of  minds  and  hearts,  offensive  and  defen- 
sive. A  man  should  never  be  expected  to  hate  the 
persons  and  things  Avhich  his  friend  hates,  or  to  love 
those  which  his  friend  loves.  But  far  different  is  the 
friendship  between  the  creature  and  his  God.  It  is 
enough  for  the  godly  man  to  know  the  feelings  of  his 
God  towards  any  person  or  thing  in  the  wide  universe, 
and  forthwith  his  own  feelings  and  conduct  are  deter- 
mined on  accordingly.  The  man's  heai^t  must  agree 
with  its  God;  his  thoughts  and  opinions  be  formed  by 
those  of  his  God.  The  man  must  make  himself  mere 
clay,  to  be  moulded  by  his  God — a  mere  machine,  to 
be  worked  by  his  God ;  he  must  have  no  will  but  his 
God's.  He  must  love  that  which  his  God  loves,  and  hate 
that  which  his  God  hates,  and  that  only.  His  enlisting 
oath  under  the  Son  of  God's  banner  is,  without  qualifi- 
cation or  reserve  :  "  Thy  friends  are  my  friends  ;  and 
thine  enemies  are  my  enemies."  "  It  is  for  thee  to 
decide,  and  for  me  to  be  and  do."  He  is  pronounced 
unworthy  of  Christ,  who  is  not  ready,  at  his  bidding, 


268  WORLDLINESS  AND  ITS  RESULTS. 

to  hate  father,  mother,  wife,  child,  houses  and  lands. 
Every  friend  of  God,  like  Abraham,  is  ready,  when 
commanded,  to  take  a  knife  and  slay  his  Isaac.  And 
all  the  blessed,  who  are  welcomed  by  Jesus  on  the 
last  day,  will  be  ready  to  go,  at  the  divine  bidding, 
against  the  doomed  sinners  and  incorrigibly  wicked, 
though  in  their  number  there  be  earthly  relations  and 
friends,  and  to  drive  them  into  outer  darkness  for 
ever.  It  is  not  inconsistent  with  the  perfect  character 
of  the  Lord  Jesus,  who  loved  each  of  the  lost  more 
than  friends  and  brothers  ever  did  each  other,  and 
more  than  any  mother  her  sucking  child,  to  bid  these 
cursed  to  depart;  and  neither  will  it  be  cruel  and 
hard-hearted  in  his  people  to  approve  and  execute  his 
righteous  will. 

The  disciples  of  Christ  allow  no  feeling  to  conflict 
with  their  duty  and  allegiance  to  their  Master.  The 
league  between  the  Captain  of  Salvation  and  his  true 
soldiers,  is  without  any  stipulation  on  their  part  for 
indulgence  to  themselves,  or  safety  for  creature-friends. 
Its  obhgations,  too,  are  indissoluble,  to  last  through- 
out eternity.  Every  connection  and  feeling  inconsist- 
ent with  unreserved  obedience,  is  renounced,  and  that 
for  ever.  Friendship  for  those  w^hom  God  regards  as 
his  enemies — sympathy  for  them  in  any  pursuit  dis- 
approved by  him,  is  a  breach  of  the  original  compact ; 
places  us  in  his  estimation  on  a  level  with  his  foes,  and, 
unless  repented  of  and  forsaken,  will  ultimately  ex- 
clude us  from  the  number  and  portion  of  his  friends. 
Nor  let  these  exactions  of  God's  proffered  friendship 
be  regarded  severe.  For  he  is  in  heaven,  and  we  on 
earth;  he  is  from  everlasting,  w^e  of  yesterday.     He 


WORLDLINESS  AND  ITS  RESULTS.  269 

knows  all  things,  and  the  little  knowledge  we  possess, 
and  even  the  minds  that  acquired,  or  rather  received 
it,  came  from  him ;  and  to  expect  so  close  a  friendship 
as  the  Gospel  offers  Avith  such  a  being  on  other  terms, 
would  be  highly  derogatory  to  him,  and  presumptuous 
in  us. 

Let  not,  then,  our  being  required  in  the  text 
entirely  to  abjure  friendship  with  one  of  the  enemies 
of  God,  excite  our  surprise.  Let  us  not  demur  at  the 
apostolic  doctrine  thus  popularly  and  forcibly  ex- 
pressed :  "  Know  ye  not  that  the  friendship  of  the 
world  is  enmity  with  God?  whosoever,  therefore,  will 
be  a  friend  of  the  world,  is  the  enemy  of  God."  It 
would  seem,  then,  that  the  world  is  the  declared  enemy 
of  God.  And  that,  as  every  advanced  Christian,  in 
his  own  experience  knows,  and  as  abundant  Scriptures 
assert,  if  God's  love  is  unbounded,  his  hatred  is  equally 
so.  There  is  not  only  no  compromise  between  him- 
self and  the  world  with  which  he  is  at  war ;  but  he 
declares  that  man  his  foe,  who  has  any  sympathy  with 
the  views,  pursuits,  and  fortunes  of  the  world. 

Since  such  are  the  serious  consequences  of  worldli- 
ness  on  our  part,  it  is  important  to  decide  in  what  it 
consists.  There  are  few,  at  least  among  the  nominal 
followers  of  Christ,  so  ingenuous  as  to  admit  their 
participation  in  any  feehng  or  conduct  so  solemnly 
proscribed  by  God — the  bare  confession  of  which,  too, 
would  at  once  number  them  with  the  enemies  of  the 
Lord,  and  moreover  show  that  they  were  marching 
under  the  banner  of  one  to  whom  they  were  opposed. 
Accordingly,  great  differences  of  opinion  on  this  sub- 
ject pervade  even  the  visible  church  of  Christ. 


270  WORLDLINESS  AND  ITS  RESULTS. 

We  propose  to  notice  only  one  error,  and  then  state 
what  is  the  true  Bible  notion  of  friendship  with  the 
world.  It  is  a  serious  mistake  Avith  many  zealous 
persons,  to  limit  their  ideas  of  worldliness  too  much. 
This  operates  injuriously  on  those  who  are  influenced 
by  what  they  say,  and,  it  may  be,  on  themselves; 
since  they  and  their  friends  are  allowed  free  scope  in 
the  boundless  margin  of  a  very  narrow  circle. 

What  is  the  idea  but  too  commonly  conveyed  to 
many  minds  by  the  question,  Is  he  worldly?  Is  it 
not,  Does  he  participate  in  worldly  amusements  ?  Does 
he  go  to  balls  ?  Does  he  play  cards  ?  attend  the  the- 
atre ?  visit  the  race-course  ?  or  entertain  himself  in 
any  way  which  spiritually-minded  persons  avoid  and 
advise  against  ?  Now,  it  is  a  sufficient  condemnation 
of  thus  limiting  the  term,  that  it  is  nowhere  so  de- 
fined in  the  inspired  word.  It  is  rather  in  accordance 
with  the  general  spirit  of  the  Scriptures  than  with  any 
positive  precept,  that  experienced  Christians  refuse  to 
engage  in  these  amusements.  And  such,  when  they 
pray  against  the  world,  which  is  one  of  their  three 
enemies,  are  very  far  from  any  reference  to  cards  and 
theatres  and  balls — to  resort  to  which  the  great  body 
of  them  have  not  the  slightest  temptation.  They  have 
clean  escaped  from  these  errors,  feel  themselves  in  no 
immediate  danger  from  them,  and  regard  them  as  dead 
enemies.  The  natural  consequences  of  this  unscrip- 
tural  limitation  of  worldliness  are  such  as  these  :  the 
advocate  and  partaker  of  these  amusements  hears  his 
professing  friend  scandalize  his  neighbor's  dress  or 
equipage — express,  without  any  reference  to  an  over- 
ruling Providence  or  a  better  hope,  an  unqualified 


WORLDLINESS  AND  ITS  RESULTS.  271 

regret  for  some  temporal  loss — or,  perhaps,  sees  him 
fully  engrossed,  day  by  day,  in  laying  up  treasure  on 
earth.  He  hears  and  sees  worldly  sentiments  and 
worldly  practice  on  the  part  of  his  friend,  and,  not 
being  convinced  of  a  distinction  without  a  difference, 
he  flies  from  the  lecture  of  this  pretender  to  religion 
against  the  amusements  of  the  world,  and  drowns  his 
convictions  in  the  whirlpool  of  their  vanities  and 
pomps. 

Another  deplorable  effect  of  this  error  is,  it  conveys 
a  wrong  impression  of  true  religion  to  the  minds  of 
the  young,  in  whose  eyes  these  worldly  baits  are  most 
alluring.  If  the  great  difference  between  a  Christian 
and  a  sinful  Hfe  consists,  as  some  give  reason  to  infer, 
in  abstaining  from,  or  indulging  in  these  things,  is  it 
astonishing  that  their  worldly  minds,  their  natural 
hearts — untaught  in  the  existence  of  a  higher  and 
better  happiness,  and  in  the  possibility  of  a  change  in 
their  tastes  through  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  so 
that  they  will  relish  what  is  really  better,  though  they 
now  loathe  it; — is  it  surprising,  I  say,  that  the  young, 
whom  the  gay  and  giddy  world  especially  captivates, 
and  who  are  ignorant  of  these  essential  Gospel  truths, 
should  regard  the  discipleship  of  Jesus  a  gloomy  calling, 
and  shun  their  only  Saviour  and  friend?  Nay,  is  it 
not  to  be  expected  that  their  hearts,  naturally  averse 
to  true  godhness,  should  lead  them  to  raise  the  ques- 
tion, with  a  Christian  friend  urging  them  to  seek  the 
salvation  of  their  souls,  whether  or  not  certain  amuse- 
ments be  innocent  and  allowable  ? 

In  favor  of  these,  much  that  is  plausible  may  be 
said,  while,  if  the  issue  were  the  duty  of  mourning  over 


272  WORLDLINESS  AND  ITS  RESULTS. 

sin,  receiving  by  faith  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  serving  God, 
they  would  be  speechless,  and  their  guilt  confessed. 
Their  hearts,  if  they  complied  with  their  friend's  coun- 
sel, and  received  the  Spirit  of  God,  would  be  changed ; 
worldliness  would  be  overcome;  and  the  places  in 
which  the  worldly  meet,  and  where  they  only  can  enjoy 
themselves,  would  be  forthwith  and  for  ever  deserted. 
"  Who  is  he  that  overcometh  the  world,  but  he  that 
believeth  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ?"  "This  is  the  vic- 
tory that  overcometh  the  world,  even  our  faith."  "And 
whosoever  believeth  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ,  is  born 
of  God."  Oh!  instead  of  ministers  and  Christians 
grieving  only  when  the  worldly  around  them  enjoy 
themselves  in  their  way,  let  them  constantly  w^eep 
over  worldly  hearts  which,  so  long  as  they  remain  un- 
changed, are  as  ruinous  when  silent  and  sad,  as  when 
noisy  and  mirthful.  Instead  of  the  ambassadors  of 
Christ  or  his  people  being  beguiled  to  what  the  world 
thinks  its  strong  ground ;  instead  of  their  consenting 
to  preach  and  talk  about  the  amusements  of  unre- 
newed men,  let  them  exclusively  insist  on  these  great 
truths:  the  sinfulness  of  every  human  heart;  its  ill 
desert;  its  need  of  the  Saviour  Christ.  Let  them 
extol  the  preciousness  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  hold  him  up 
before  sinners'  eyes,  exhort  to  humble,  persevering 
prayer,  that,  drawn  by  the  Father,  they  may  come  to 
the  Son,  and  be  born  again  of  the  Spirit  of  God.  Let 
the  old  man  be  put  off,  and  his  tastes  will  go  with 
him,  and  his  food  no  longer  be  sought  after  or  enjoyed. 
Let  the  new  man  be  put  on,  and  the  soul  will  rehsh 
what  it  would  not,  and  could  not,  partake  of  before. 
Let  Jesus  be  exalted,  and  the  world  will  sink.     Let 


AVORLDLINESS  AND  ITS  RESULTS.  273 

the  worldly  know,  that  in  their  Saviour  they  will  find 
a  blessed  substitute  for  all  which  they  may  relinquish; 
that; 

"As  by  the  light  of  opening  day, 
The  stars  are  all  concealed, 
So  earthly  pleasures  fade  away, 
When  Jesus  is  revealed." 

^  But,  while  convinced  of  the  unscripturalness  of  in- 
sisting prominently  on   the  sinfulness  of  what  are 
denominated  worldly  amusements,  my  feUow-profes- 
sors  will  not  regard  me  as  transcending  proper  bounds, 
when  I  beg  them  to  consider  if  participation  in  these 
pleasures  does  not  betray,  in  an  eminent  degree,  a 
state  of  heart  coinciding  with  what,  we  shall  soon  see, 
the  Scriptures  pronounce  friendship  with  the  world— 
if  I  beg  them  to  say.  Where  can  the  spirit  of  the  world, 
to  which  God  is  opposed,  be  found,  if  not  in  the  places 
and  amusements  of  which  we  speak  ?— if  I  ask  any  of 
them  who  countenance  or  frequent  these  resorts,  if 
they  do  not  give  occasion  to  the  world  to  think  that 
the  Lord  Jesus  has  failed  them;  that  they  do  not  find 
him^  sufficient,  and  that  they  are  obhged  to  resort 
again  to  the  pleasures  of  sin,  which  are  for  a  season? 
Neither  wiU  Christian  parents  take  it  amiss  if,  these 
things  being  so,  I  affectionately  inquire,  whether  that 
can  be  thought  a  necessary  accomphshment  or  part  of 
education  for  those  souls  which  were  given  them  to 
train  for  heaven,  that  wiU  fit  them  to  engage  with 
pleasure  in  any  amusement  which  betrays  friendship 
with  the  world,  and,  of  consequence,  according  to  the 
text,  enmity  with  God?     Let  chHdren  in  riper  years 
learn,  on  their  own  responsibihty,  if  they  see  fit,  how 
18 


274  WORLDLINESS  AND  ITS  RESULTS. 

to  enjoy  themselves  with  the  world,  and  their  conduct 
may  be  the  affliction,  it  cannot  be  the  sin  of  the  parent; 
but  if,  in  the  period  of  their  childhood,  they  are  taught 
the  art,  whose  will  be  the  fault  of  its  after  exercise  ? 
And  now  to  return. 

It  will  be  seen,  that,  while  Ave  are  far  from  coun- 
tenancing the  amusements  of  the  world,  and  think, 
that  their  tendencies  are  only  evil,  and  that  they  are 
condemned  by  the  spirit  of  the  sacred  Scriptures,  yet 
we  insist  it  is  a  miserable  limitation  of  a  Avell  nigh 
universal  sin,  to  confine  worldliness  to  attendance  at 
a  few  places  of  worldly  resort,  or  compliance  with  a 
few  worldly  customs.     The  question  recurs  then,  what 
is  the  world?     St.  Paid  speaks  of  "the  course  of  this 
world,"  that  is  of  the  track  Avhicli  it  pursues, — the  life 
which  its  vicAvs,  maxims  and  example  dictate  and 
justify.     He  describes  this  "  course"  to  be  in  accord- 
ance with  "the  prince  of  the  power  of  the  air,  the 
spirit  that  worketh  in  the  children  of  disobedience." 
He  further  declares,  that  "by  nature,"  all  Christians, 
"in  the  times  before  they  Avere  cpiickened  by  God 
and  made  heirs  of  salvation,  Avere  numbered  among 
worldlings,  and  that  their  conversation  and  state  were 
like  the  Avorld's."     He  also  says,  they  are  made  to 
differ  from   the  Avorld,  in  their  course   here,  and  in 
their  condition  and  prospects  both  for  the  present  and 
the  future  life,  by  the  grace  of  God,  through  "/a^V/i." 
So  that  in  this  passage  to  the  Ephesians,  "the  world" 
means,  all  men  in  their  natural,  unrencAved  state,  who 
walk  by  sight  and  not  by  faith.     "The  world"  is 
plainly  used  in  the  same  sense  in  our  text,  and  in 
numerous  parallel  passages. 


WORLDLINESS  AND  ITS  RESULTS.  275 

Now  "the  course"  of  these  men  is  further  defined 
by  St.  Paul  to  be  following  the  lusts  of  the  flesh, 
fulfilUng  the  desires  of  the  flesh  and  of  the  mind, — 
that  is,  pursuing  such  a  life  as  creatures  with  our 
appetites  and  passions  would,  if  they  looked  only  at 
the  things  which  are  seen  and  temporal, — if  they  had 
no  respect  to  God,  and  to  the  things  which  faith  hopes 
for,  and  of  which  it  is  the  evidence.  This  then  is  the 
world.  It  is  the  men  whose  "course"  is  such.  These 
men  are  called  the  world,  because  all  men  born  into 
the  world  are  naturally  such;  and  because  they  con- 
stitute the  vast  majority  of  those  who  live  upon  the 
earth.  What,  then,  are  we  not  to  be  the  friends  of 
such?  Yea,  veril}",  in  one  important  sense.  Did  not 
Jesus  suffer  and  die  in  their  behalf?  And  so  w^e  are 
not  to  love  our  lives  unto  the  death  for  them.  For 
their  souls,  and  highest  good  we  are  to  spend  and  be 
spent;  and  that  too,  though  the  more  abundantly  we 
love,  the  less  we  be  loved. 

The  children  of  this  world  are  to  experience  in 
Christians,  their  best,  their  only  self-denying  human 
friends.  But  with  their  "  course,"  the  disciples  of 
Jesus  are  to  have  no  sympathy.  ToAvards  them  even,, 
so  far  as  they  require  or  expect  countenance  and  co- 
operation, either  by  conversation  or  example,  in  mak- 
ing provision  in  the  world  to  fulfil  the  lusts  of  the 
flesh,  we  are  to  have  no  friendship.  We  are  not  to 
be  friends  to  whom  they  can  unbosom  their  unhallowed 
schemes  with  the  slightest  prospect  of  sj^mpathy  or 
furtherance.  They  are  in  these  things  to  meet  in  us 
opposers.     We  are  to  warn  them,  that  the  wages  of 


276  WORLDLINESS  AND  ITS  RESULTS. 

this  "  course"  is  death :  that  he  who  saveth  his  Ufe 
shall  loose  it,  and  that  it  would  not  profit  to  gain  the 
whole  world,  and  lose  their  souls. 

The  planter,  unduly  solicitous  about  the  drought  or 
rain;  the  merchant,  engrossed  with  calculating  and 
hoarding  his  gains ;  the  mechanic,  busied  with  earthly 
houses,  neglecting  the  heavenly  one ;  the  aspirant  for 
temporal  honors,  offices,  and  emoluments;  they  who 
would  attract  admirers  of  their  persons  or  their  minds ; 
all  wdio  seek  to  please  men;  all,  of  every  name  and 
calling,  who  make  anything  under  heaven  or  God  theu' 
end,  who  rest  short  of  Jesus,  these  should  meet,  at 
least  in  our  example,  silent  rebuke.  We  should  be 
able  to  reprove  their  worldliness,  without  apprehension 
of  any  fair  retort:  without  any  allowable  use  of  the 
w^orld  on  our  part  which  may  be  construed  into  its 
abuse;  without  fear  of  wife,  child,  house,  land,  or  any- 
thing on  earth  being  instanced  as  an  object  we  do  not 
hate,  are  not  willing  to  part  with  for  Jesus'  sake,  and 
when  he  wills.  This  is  the  spirit  which  believers 
seek,  when  they  pray  against  "the  world."  To  attain 
this,  are  they  sober  and  watchful;  avoiding  all  amuse- 
ments, company  and  books,  nay,  imaginings  and 
thoughts  which  have  a  tendency  to  foster  "  the  corrup- 
tion that  is  in  the  world,  through  lust,"  and  to  tempt 
them  renewedly  to  forsake  the  divine  nature,  of  which 
they  have  been  made  partakers,  and  which  they  have 
found  a  fountain  of  living  waters,  and  to  hew  out  to 
themselves  again  those  broken  cisterns,  from  which 
they  had  escaped. 

And  now  we  are  ready  to  understand  St.  John's 


WORLDLINESS  AND  ITS  RESULTS.  277 

declaration :  "  If  any  man  love  the  world,  the  love  of 
the  Father  is  not  in  him."  The  beloved  disciple 
means,  if  we  have  a  fellow  feeling  with  natural  un- 
converted men,  who  are  scripturally  called  "the  world," 
in  their  unfounded  and  sinful  estimation  of  things  under 
heaven, — if  we  desire  and  pursue  anything  that  can  be 
attained  in  this  life,  as  our  rest  and  end,  it  is  utterly 
inconsistent  with  our  having  those  affections  towards 
God  which  are  his  due  and  our  duty;  it  is  as  impos- 
sible as  two  opposites,  that  we  can  in  this  way  love 
the  world,  and  yet  have  that  supreme  and  exclusive 
love  of  our  Father  in  heaven  as  our  portion  and  re- 
ward, which  the  Bible  alone  recognizes  as  "the  love 
of  God."  And  we  should  not  wonder  at  the  uncom- 
promising hostility,  which  God  declares  in  our  text, 
against  the  world  and  all  its  friends,  against  it  and  all 
who  sympathize  or  act  with  it.  We  are  also  prepared 
to  comprehend  what  St.  Paul  affirms  of  himself :  "the 
world  was   crucified  to  him,  and  he  to  the  world." 

They  ("  the  world,")  took  no  more  pleasure  in  him, 
than  they  would  in  the  dead,  loathsome  carcass  of  a 
crucified  malefactor.  He  suited  not  their  feelings, 
purposes,  and  views.  But  he,  too,  regarded  them  in 
the  same  light.  They  were  crucified  to  him.  He 
sympathized  not  with  their  forgetfulness  of  things 
that  were  unseen,  with  their  seeking  rest  and  happi- 
ness short  of  God  in  Christ,  with  their  laying  up  trea- 
sure on  earth. 

And  oh !  Christian  brother,  be  such  a  one  as  Paul. 
Attain  by  the  same  means  "  the  cross  of  Christ,"  the 
same   unearthhness  and  heavenly-mindedness.      See 


278  WORLDLINESS  AND  ITS  RESULTS. 

what  contempt  the  Lord  of  Glory  threw  on  the  things 
of  this  world  by  his  cross.  Boast  not,  glory  not  in 
his  cross  as  your  salvation,  if  at  the  same  time  you 
refuse  to  learn  the  lesson  of  his  example.  Let  the 
same  mind  be  in  you  which  was  in  Christ  Jesus.  Let 
him  not  say  to  you  as  to  the  Jews,  "  je  are  from 
beneath,  I  am  from  above ;  ye  are  of  this  world,  I  am 
not  of  this  world."  Oh!  that  was  a  solemn  declaration 
of  the  Son  of  God,  on  the  eve  of  his  crucifixion,  and 
when  ''  he,  who  had  the  power  of  death,  that  is  the 
devil,"  was  about  to  apj)roach  and  claim  Him  as  his 
own :  "  The  prince  of  this  tvorld  cometh,  and  hath 
nothing  in  Me."  Ah!  Christian  brother,  hath  he 
nothing  in  you,  as  "" j^rince  of  this  vjorld^'  should  he 
now  come?  If  he  find  anything  of  himself  in  you; 
if  any  allowed  principle  and  course  of  the  world  be 
yours, — his  claim  as  "  God  of  this  world"  in  and  over 
your  soul  forever,  will  be  undisputed  in  the  hour  of 
death  and  on  the  judgment-day.  Look  not  then  else- 
where. For  you  have  been  forewarned :  "  Know  ye 
not,"  says  the  Holy  Ghost,  "  that  the  friendship  of  the 
world  is  enmity  with  God?  whosoever  therefore  will 
be  a  friend  of  the  world  is  the  enemy  of  God."  And 
if  the  friend  of  the  world  :  "  under  the  devil,"  and  with 
"his  deceived"  are  you  numbered  and  serving;  and 
into  the  lake  of  fire,  wdiich  is  the  second  death,  it  is 
declared  you  shall  be  cast. 

*     ,  *  Hs  5is  *  * 

And  in  the  meanwhile,  ye,  who  are  vainly  endea- 
voring to  lay  up  treasure  in  heaven  and  on  earth,  to 
serve  God  and  Mammon, — let  not  all  your  fruitless 
efforts  to  succeed,  either  in  temporals  or  spirituals,  to 


WORLDLINESS  AND  ITS  RESULTS.  279 

attain  inward  peace  or  earthly  blessings,  excite  sur- 
prise ;  for  saitli  not  the  Holy  Ghost :  "  Ye  lust,  and 
have  not;  ye  kill,  and  desire  to  have,  and  cannot 
obtain;  ye  fight  and  war,  yet  ye  have  not,  because  ye 
ask  not.  Ye  ask,  and  receive  not,  because  ye  ask 
amiss,  that  ye  may  consume  it  upon  your  lusts.  Ye 
adulterers  and  adulteresses,  know  ye  not  that  the 
friendship  of  the  world  is  enmity  with  God  ?" 


SEEMON   XIX. 


PARTIAL   CHANGES   INEFFECTUAL. 


Jer.  iv.  3. 
"  Break  up  your  fallow-ground,  and  sow  not  among  thorns." 

The  generation  in  which  our  prophet  lived  and 
which  he  served,  were  far  from  being  hardened  and 
abandoned.  His  faithful  and  repeated  warnings  and 
exhortations  produced  an  impression.  Nor  did  his 
severe  denunciations  simply  drive  his  sinful  contempo- 
raries to  fear  and  despair,  or  excite  them  sometimes 
to  anger  and  acts  of  vengeance ;  but  it  led  them  to 
occasional  attempts  to  comply  with  his  requirements, 
and  thus  to  escape  the  calamities  which  he  threatened. 

Under  such  promising  impulses,  some  notorious  sin 
would  be  very  generally  forsaken,  and  the  hope  then 
seem  to  be  authorized  that  by  timely  repentance  the 
impending  national  evils  might  yet  be  averted.  But 
their  goodness  invariably  proved  to  be  "  as  a  morning 
cloud,  and  as  the  early  dew  which  goeth  away."  In 
all  such  cases,  their  reformation  was  temporary,  and 
"it  happened  with  them  according  to  the  true  proverb, 
The  dog  is  turned  to  his  own  vomit  again;  and  the 
sow  that  was  washed,  to  her  wallowing  in  the  mire." 
Either  they  repented  of  their  repentance,  and  indulged 


282  PARTIAL  CHANGES  INEFFECTUAL. 

again  in  the  sins  which  they  had  openly  renounced, 
or  they  still  persisted  in  something  else  which  equally 
betrayed  earth-bound  and  rebellious  hearts. 

Let  a  single  instance  of  the  kind  suffice.  That 
legislative  provision,  which  required  every  Hebrew  to 
liberate  such  of  his  own  fellow-countrymen  as  he  held 
in  bondage,  after  they  had  served  him  for  a  specified 
time,  had  fallen  into  general  neglect,  and  their  term 
of  service  was  prolonged.  When  this  violated  law 
was  brought  to  their  notice,  it  was  forthwith  univer- 
sally obeyed :  the  king,  the  princes  and  all  the  people, 
let  every  one  his  man  servant  and  every  one  his  maid 
servant  go  free.  "  But,"  we  read,  "  afterward  they 
turned,  and  caused  the  servants  and  the  handmaids, 
whom  they  had  let  go  free,  to  return,  and  brought 
them  into  subjection  for  servants  and  for  handmaids." 
Need  we  say  that  every  such  sinful  relapse  deepened 
the  spiritual  gloom  in  which  the  land  was  shrouded, 
and  rendered  its  final  overthrow  more  certain  and 
overwhelming?  It  betrayed  a  settled  purpose  of 
disobedience  on  the  part  of  the  people;  it  was  equi- 
valent to  closing  their  eyes,  in  the  midst  of  the  light 
that  was  shining  around,  and  to  walking  in  the  dark- 
ness which  their  self-imposed  bhndness  had  inflicted. 
How  provoking,  therefore,  in  the  sight  of  God,  must 
every  such  partial  and  fleeting  change  of  theirs  have 
proved!  With  what  emotions  of  alarm  and  pity 
must  it  have  filled  the  heart  of  every  enlightened 
friend  of  such  a  misguided  people ! 

It  was  under  the  influence  of  these  feelings,  and 
while  deeply  convinced  of  the  utter  unprofitableness 
and  increased  guilt  of  all  such  reformations,  that  our 


PARTIAL  CHANGES  INEFFECTUAL.  283 

prophet,  in  the  most  striking  way,  counsels  them  to 
lay  aside  these  worse  than  vain  efforts,  and  to  be 
content  with  nothing  short  of  a  thorough  and  perma- 
nent change  in  their  characters  and  lives,  saying,  in 
the  words  of  our  text :  "  Break  up  your  fallow  ground, 
and  sow  not  among  thorns."  Of  what  avail  every 
superficial  attempt  ?  It  is  as  foolish  and  senseless  as 
any  expectation  of  a  harvest  in  a  farmer  who  should 
scatter  his  seed  on  ground  which  had  not  been  broken 
up  with  the  plough,  and  which  was  covered  with 
thorns.  The  few  grains  of  seed,  which,  in  such  a 
case,  might  gain  a  lodgment  in  the  soil,  would  yet  be 
infallibly  choked  by  the  weeds,  and  no  fruit  would  be 
borne. 

Just  as  surely,  would  Jeremiah  have  his  sinful 
countrymen  understand,  that  their  efforts  at  reforma- 
tion would  fail,  unless  they  were  based  upon  a  radical 
and  lasting  change  of  heart.  "  Circumcise  yourselves 
to  the  Lord,"  continues  the  prophet,  "  and  take  away 
the  foreskins  of  your  heart,  ye  men  of  Judah,  and 
inhabitants  of  Jerusalem;  lest  my  fury  come  forth 
like  a  fire,  and  burn  that  none  can  quench  it,  because 
of  the  evil  of  your  doings."  No  simple  resolution  on 
your  part,  no  alteration  in  outward  deportment  will 
satisfy  God's  requirements,  or  change  the  relations  in 
which  you  stand  to  him.  Unless  your  very  nature 
itself  be  changed,  your  reformations  will  endure  only 
for  a  while,  and  even  while  they  last,  will  only  be  evil 
in  God's  sight,  and  provoke  his  anger  to  burst  forth: 
wherefore,  "  Break  up  your  fallow-ground,  and  sow  not 
among  thorns." 

Thus,  our  text,  in  this  connection,  teaches  two  im* 


284  PARTIAL  CHANGES  INEFFECTUAL. 

portant  lessons :  The  first  is,  that  there  is  a  tendency 
in  human  nature  to  make  superficial  and  insufficient 
attempts  to  comply  ivith  the  7^equirements  of  God,  and  in 
the  spiritual  world  to  "  sotv  among  thorns;'  and  secondly, 
that  nothing  will  avail  short  of  entirely  hreaJcing  up  the 
falloiv-ground,  or  in  other  ivords^  nothing  short  of  a  tho- 
rough change  of  heart. 

Let  us  look,  first,  for  a  moment,  at  tlie  disposition 
among  many  unconve7^ted  men  to  attempt  reformation  in 
an  unregenerate  state.  It  must  be  acknowledged  on 
all  sides,  that  an  unenlightened  natural  man,  knows 
nothing  of  that  change  of  heart  ujDon  which  the  Scrip- 
tures insist,  and  without  which  he  cannot  do  anything 
acceptable  in  God's  sight,  or  see  his  face  in  peace. 
Moreover,  without  being  duly  aware  of  the  depth  and 
nature  of  his  estrangement  from  God,  he  knows  that 
there  are  many  things  which  he  is  in  the  habit  of 
either  omitting  or  doing,  although  they  are  forbidden 
or  enjoined  in  God's  word;  and  he  may  occasionally 
hear  his  course  of  life  in  these  respects  denounced 
from  the  pulpit,  while  his  own  conscience  bears  wit- 
ness to  his  guilt.  It  is  but  natural  that  he  should 
feel  uneasy  under  these  charges,  and  that  he  should 
flatter  himself  that  if  he  should  leave  off  the  particular 
sins  that  have  been  brought  under  his  notice,  his  re- 
lationship towards  God  would  forthwith  be  altered, 
and  he  would  henceforth  be  safe. 

Such  changes,  too,  it  is  evident,  may  be  almost 
infinitely  diversified  in  their  character  and  extent, 
and  yet  all  stop  short  of  that  which  is  Scriptural  and 
saving.  They  may  be  more  or  less  confined — being 
limited,  in  some  cases,  perhaps,  to  a  single  point,  and 


PARTIAL  CHANGES  INEFFECTUAL.  285 

in  others  embracing  almost  every  particular  in  which 
the  children  of  the  kingdom  are  outwardly  distin- 
guished from  the  children  of  the  wicked  one.  They 
may  also  be  more  or  less  evangelical — in  some  in- 
stances having  Uttle  or  no  reference  to  the  Gospel,  and 
depending,  for  their  worth  and  effect,  entirely  upon 
their  own  moral  character  j  while,  in  others,  they  may 
be  avowedly  connected  by  their  subjects  with  the  blood 
of  Christ,  as  their  sole  ground  of  merit  and  accepta- 
bleness.  Every  man,  too,  who  has  experienced  such 
a  change  as  this,  would  be  a  very  different  character 
from  what  he  had  been  hitherto.  Every  one  would 
observe  the  difference  in  those  outward  sins  which  he 
had  left  off,  and  in  those  outward  duties  which  he  had 
begun  to  discharge.  His  feelings,  likewise,  would 
have  been  materially  modified  both  towards  God  and 
towards  the  children  of  God.  He  would  flatter  him- 
self that  he  had  now  an  interest  in  both ;  and  it  is 
only  reasonable  that  he  should  be  almost  filial  in  his 
affections  towards  God,  and  almost  brotherly  towards 
the  members  of  the  household  of  faith. 

With  a  cursory,  but  honest  eye,  examine  such  a 
character,  and  you  will  see  how  naturally  this  fearful 
self-deception  results  from  a  single  false  step  at  the 
outset.  Suppose  a  man,  now,  to  be  convicted,  in  some 
way  or  other,  of  one  or  more  particular  transgressions 
of  the  law  of  God — it  may  be  intemperance,  or  hcen- 
tiousness,  or  covetousness,  or  a  neglect  of  the  ordi- 
nances of  religion,  and  to  resolve,  under  the  goadings 
of  conscience  or  the  fear  of  retribution,  to  cease,  in 
one  or  all  of  these  respects,  from  evil,  and  to  begin  to 
do  well.    Henceforth  he  abstains  from  the  intoxicating 


283  PARTIAL  CHANGES  INEFFECTUAL. 

bowl;  he  keeps  his  body  in  chastity;  he  gives  freely; 
he  reads  the  Bible,  goes  through  a  form  of  i:>riA'ate 
and  domestic  prayer,  and  attends  regularly  at  public 
worship.  All  this,  it  must  be  remembered,  with  no 
feeling  and  acknowledgment  of  the  utter  insufficiency 
of  such  a  reformation,  and  as  merely  preliminary  to 
his  immediate,  close,  and  constant  search  for  pardon 
and  spiritual  renewal  in  the  appointed  Gospel  way, 
but  as  an  actual  beginning  to  walk  in  the  straight  and 
narrow  way,  and  with  the  conviction  that  if  he  have 
grace  to  persevere  in  this  course,  he  will,  at  its  close, 
enter  into  life.  Such  a  man,  we  sa}^,  will  very  natu- 
rally regard  his  relationship  towards  God  as  having 
undergone  a  material  and  blessed  change,  and  his 
vievv's  of,  and  feelings  towards  God,  will  be  very  dif- 
ferent from  those  which  he  formerly  entertained.  The 
probability  is,  that  he  will  soon  feel  it  incumbent  on 
him  to  number  himself  among  the  professed  people  of 
God,  and,  through  baptism,  confirmation,  and  the 
Lord's  supper,  he  will  ere  long  be  admitted  into  the 
visible  fold  of  Christ.  He  will  forthwith  learn  to  as- 
cribe the  marked  change  in  his  feelings  and  course,  to 
the  grace  which  he  hopes  he  has  received ;  a  kind  of 
sorrow  for  his  previous  neglect  of  God,  may  be  sin- 
cerely felt,  and  a  species  of  faith  in  the  Head  of  the 
Church  be  excited  in  his  breast. 
-  But  what,  in  the  meanwhile,  is  his  real  spiritual 
state?  There  has  been,  according  to  our  supposition, 
no  real  change  wrought  in  his  heart.  Even  the  sins 
which  he  has  left  off  are  not  hateful  in  his  sight,  on 
account  of  what  they  are  in  themseh'es,  and  of  their 
being  counter  to  the  rights  and  claims  of  God.     If  he 


PARTIAL  CHANGES  INEFFECTUAL;  287 

could  do  SO  with  impunity,  he  would  still  like  to  in- 
dulge in  them  to  the  same  excess  as  heretofore,  and, 
indeed,  perhaps  they  are  yet  allowed  to  a  most  crimi- 
nal degree.  But  while  the  outward  life  is  subjected 
to  some  checks,  the  heart  is  permitted  to  go  after  its 
former  idols  without  restraint ;  and  other  sins,  less 
glaring,  but  equally  under  the  ban  of  God's  law,  are 
freely  committed.  No  actual  communion,  moreover, 
can  ever  take  place  between  such  a  character  and 
God.  The  w^ays  of  this  counterfeit  wisdom  are  not 
ways  of  pleasantness,  nor  all  her  paths  peace. 

Such  service  of  God  is  far  from  being  perfect  free- 
dom. All  that  such  a  man  undertakes  is  an  irksome 
task.  Not  only  are  the  sins  which  he  has  given  up, 
so  much  purchase-money  with  which  he  endeavors  to 
procure  God's  pardon,  but  his  very  religion  is  a  tissue 
of  dead  works,  of  which  he  will  have  to  repent  ere  he 
becomes  a  living  member  of  Christ,  and  begins  to  wor- 
ship God  in  spirit  and  in  truth.  What  profit  or  plea- 
sure can  such  a  one  derive  from  the  assemblings  of 
Christians  on  earth  ?  What  meetness  for  the  inherit- 
ance of  the  saints  in  light,  can  a  spiritual  eye  discern 
in  such  a  character  ?  Is  it  not  evident  that  he  has 
sown  among  thorns  ?  that  he  forms  part  of  that  earth 
which,  bearing  thorns  and  briars,  is  rejected,  and  is 
nigh. unto  cursing:  whose  end  is,  to  be  burned?  What 
he  needs  is,  that  his  fallow-ground  should  be  thoroughly 
broken  up.  When  he  presents  himself  hereafter  at 
the  door  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  he  will  find  it 
closed  against  him  by  the  terms  of  admission  which 
are  inscribed  upon  it :  "  Except  a  man  be  born  again, 
he  cannot  enter  here." 


288  PARTIAL  CHANGES  INEFFECTUAL. 

This  brings  us  to  tbe  second  lesson  taught  by  our 
prophet  in  the  text,  under  the  figurative,  but  striking 
direction,  to  "  break  up  our  fallow-ground  f  which  is, 
that  a  mans  heart  must  he  truly  changed,  ere  God  will 
save  his  soid,  or  accei^t  his  tvorship.  His  affections, 
which  by  nature  are  entwined  about  the  things  of 
earth,  must  be  loosed,  and  set  upon  the  things  above, 
where  Christ  sitteth  at  the  right  hand  of  God.  No 
one  is  admitted  to  fellowship  with  the  Father  of 
heaven,  whose  natural  tastes  are  not  changed,  and 
who  does  not  come  into  his  presence  loathing  all 
things  else,  and  hungering  and  thirsting  for  commu- 
nion with  him,  as  the  hart  panteth  after  the  water- 
brooks.  Need  we  say  what  a  radical  work  must  have 
been  wrought,  ere  such  desires  for  God  can  be  enter- 
tained by  a  fallen  soul?  It  is  something  entirely 
above  and  beyond  the  power  of  nature  to  effect ;  "  for 
the  carnal  mind  is  not  subject  to  the  law  of  God, 
neither  indeed  can  be."  When  the  fallow-ground  of 
the  material  earth  breaks  up  of  its  own  accord,  and 
prepares  itself  for  the  sower's  seed,  then  will  a  carnal 
heart  fit  itself  for  the  right  reception  of  God's  truth 
and  promises,  and,  under  their  influence,  bring  forth 
fruit  unto  perfection. 

The  question,  therefore,  which  most  concerns  us,  is 
not.  How  a  heart  that  is  changed  differs  from  one  in 
a  natural  state  ? — for  that  is  easily  understood,  and 
has  been  ah-eady  summarily  answered,  when  we  stated 
that  its  affections  were  placed,  not  upon  earthly,  but 
upon  spiritual  and  divine  things.  But  the  inquiry 
which  specially  claims  our  attention  is.  How  can  the 
fallow-ground  of  the   human   heart   be   broken  up? 


PARTIAL  CHANGES  INEFFECTUAL.  289 

Where,  and  in  what  way,  can  its  earthly  roots  be 
torn  up,  and  its  soil  prepared  for  Gospel  seed  ?  To 
this  we  answer,  Only  by  the  Gospel  plough,  when  han- 
dled by  the  Holy  Ghost ;  only  upon  Mount  Calvary, 
by  that  sight  of  the  cross  which  the  Spirit  of  God 
gives.  It  is  by  the  foolishness  of  preaching  that  God 
saves  those  who  believe ;  and  it  is  to  a  brief  account  of 
the  mode  in  which  this  simple  instrumentality  effects 
this  great  and  eternal  change,  that  you  are  now  asked 
to  attend.  There  hovers  then,  we  maintain,  about 
the  cross  of  Jesus,  an  unseen  sovereign  power,  capable 
of  effectually  breaking  up  the  fallow-ground  of  the 
human  heart,  and  of  sowing  it  with  seed  which  will 
bring  forth  fruit  unto  everlasting  life. 

Bring,  now,  a  man  who  has  heretofore  been  sowing 
only  among  thorns ;  who  has  been  making  those  at- 
tempts at  reformation  to  which  he  was  competent  in 
his  natural  state — bring  such  a  one  to  the  foot  of 
Jesus'  cross,  duly  convinced  of  the  utter  vanity  of  all 
his  past  efforts,  and,  indeed,  of  all  that  he  can  do ;  and 
engrossed  with  the  desire  of  having  the  fallow-ground 
of  his  heart  thoroughly  broken  up.  Such  a  man  will 
know  as  much  of  the  evil  of  sin  as  his  previous  appre- 
hensions of  God's  wrath  were  able  to  teach,  and  of  the 
power  of  sin,  as  he  might  learn  from  his  past  futile 
efforts  at  deliverance;  but  he  has  never  conceived 
how  great  was  the  price  which  the  forgiveness  of  sin 
would  require,  nor  yet  how  deeply-seated  sin  was  in 
the  fallen  soul,  and  what  an  Almighty  agency  it  would 
need  to  uproot  it.  Now,  however,  he  perceives  that 
nothing  short  of  the  blood  of  an  incarnate  God  can 
remove  its  guilt.  He  deplores  that  pride  and  hardness 
19 


290  PARTIAL  CHANGES  INEFFECTUAL. 

of  heart,  which  even  such  manifestations  of  love  on  the 
part  of  God,  and  such  a  disclosure  of  his  own  ill-desert, 
as  is  made  in  the  death  of  his  divine  sacrifice,  can 
neither  humble  nor  move.  He  prays  for  that  which 
is  now  consciously  beyond  his  own  strength — the 
power  to  trust  in  Christ,  and  to  love  God.  Nor  is  this 
power  conferred,  in  answer  to  his  prayer,  until  he  ad- 
judges himself  as  deserving  to  be  cast  into  that  lake 
of  fire  which  is  the  second  death ;  until  he  is  impres- 
sively taught  what  a  weighty  thing  God's  curse,  as  it 
rests  upon  fallen  human  nature,  is,  and  how  helpless 
he  is  while  groaning  under  its  burden,  and  contending 
with  his  own  native  corruption ; — until  he  is  brought 
actually  to  renounce  every  other  plea  for  pardon,  ex- 
cept that  which  the  merits  of  Christ's  sacrifice  afford, 
and  to  cast  his  sin  and  his  soul  entirely  upon  his  cru- 
cified Saviour  for  salvation ; — and  until  he  ascribes  the 
power  thus  to  believe  to  the  effectual  working  of  God's 
Spirit  in  his  inner  man.  Then  it  is  that  he  is  filled 
witli  all  joy  and  peace  in  believing  through  the  power 
of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Then  it  is  that  the  love  of  Christ, 
whicli  prompted  him  thus  to  bleed  and  die  in  his  be- 
half, .constrains  his  soul.  A  new  principle  has  gotten 
effectual  possession  of  his  heart.  The  fallow-ground 
is  broken  up.  The  change  which  has  been  wrought 
is  not  pai'tial,  but  thorough.  Nor  is  it  temporary ;  it 
endures.  An  everlasting  covenant  is  formed  between 
God  and  every  fallen  soul  which  is  thus  united  to 
Christ.  This  is  its  tenor :  "  My  Spirit  that  is  upon 
thee,  and  my  words  that  I  have  put  in  thy  mouth, 
shall  not  depart  out  of  thy  mouth,  saith  the  Lord, 
from  henceforth  and  for  ever."     It  was  the   Holy 


PARTIAL  CHANGES  INEFFECTUAL.  291 

Ghost  who  began  this  good  work,  and  he  will  perform 
it  until  the  day  of  Jesus  Christ.  The  things  of  Jesus, 
which  proved  so  effectual  in  the  first  sight  of  them 
which  was  vouchsafed  to  the  believing  soul,  the  Com- 
forter will  continue  to  show  to  every  such  covenanted 
son  of  God  whom  he  has  undertaken  to  lead  home  to 
glory.  Nor  shall  they  ever  lose  their  attractive  influ- 
ence. As  the  needle  flies  to  the  magnet,  so  does  every 
such  new-born  soul  follow  Jesus,  as  the  Spirit  of  God 
presents  him  to  its  view.  The  faUow-ground  which 
was  broken  up  by  the  Gospel  plough,  as  guided  by  this 
unfaiHng  hand,  was  effectually  changed  in  its  very 
nature,  under  this  heavenly  operation.  It  was  con- 
verted from  that  which  was  thorny  into  that  which 
is  good,  and  which  it  is  infallibly  promised  shall,  under 
the  fructifying  showers  and  sunshine  of  God's  grace, 
bear  fruit  unto  everlasting  life,  either  thirty,  or  sixty, 
or  an  hundred  fold. 

Our  subject,  as  thus  presented,  supplies  us  with  a 
test  of  the  actual  spiritual  state  of  every  professedfolloiver 
of  Christ. 

Every  one  should  be  able  to  tell  whether  his  reli- 
gious course  began  in  the  way  which  has  been  de- 
scribed in  this  discourse ;  whether  the  fallow-ground 
of  his  natural  heart  was  originally  broken  up  in  this 
effectual  manner;  whether  he  was,  at  the  outset,  spi- 
ritually led  to  form  this  heartfelt  and  humbling  judg- 
ment of  his  own  character  and  ill-desert,  and  to  take 
this  transforming  view  of  his  dying  Redeemer.  Was 
your  soul,  then,  fellow-professor,  ever  so  brought,  for 
the  first  time,  to  the  foot  of  Jesus'  cross  ?  Were  you 
enabled  to  offer,  by  faith,  this  slain  Lamb  of  God  as 


292  PARTIAL  CHANGES  INEFFECTUAL. 

your  sacrifice  for  sin?  Was  your  peace  witli  God 
based  upon  this  act  of  your  soul  ?  Are  all  your  spi- 
ritual hopes  dated  from  that  day  of  your  new,  your 
second  birth  ?  If  the  life  of  God  in  your  soul  com- 
menced after  you  arrived  at  the  years  of  discretion, 
this  substantially  was  the  mode  in  which  you  were 
originally  quickened  from  your  natural  death  in  tres- 
passes and  sins.  The  seed  was  sown  among  the 
natural  growth  of  thorns  in  the  field  of  your  heart, 
unless  it  then  fell  on  ground  thus  broken  up  by  the 
Spirit  of  God  through  the  Gospel  plough.  You  started 
in  a  wrong  road,  unless  you  took  your  first  step  in 
this  Gospel  path.  Every  succeeding  step  has  conse- 
quently been  in  a  wrong  direction;  and  however 
specious  may  have  been  all  your  subsequent  life,  you 
have  yet  made  no  progress  towards  heaven.  Unless, 
then,  at  that  time,  such  was  the  origin  of  your  spirit- 
ual life  and  the  source  of  your  present  hopes,  the  seed 
was  not  planted  in  good  ground,  and  you  should  not 
rest  until  your  fallow-ground  be  effectually  broken  up. 
For  all  that  you  have  thus  far  borne  has  been  only 
the  natural  growth  of  thorns  and  briars,  and  you  are 
like  unto  ground  that  is  nigh  unto  cursing,  whose  end 
is  to  be  burned. 

But  perhaps  you  wiU  say,  "  My  spiritual  life  began 
in  infancy ;  it  originated  at  the  baptismal  font."  Now, 
far  be  it  from  us  to  limit  the  power  and  mercy  of  God, 
and  to  suppose  that  he  cannot,  nay,  sometimes  does 
not,  renew  the  unconscious  infant  soul,  and  fit  it  to 
serve  him  on  earth,  and  to  dweU  with  him  in  heaven. 
Nor  would  we  divest  you  of  a  hope  which  may  be  well 
founded ;  but  we  would  remind  you  that  few,  indeed, 


PARTIAL  CHANGES  INEFFECTUAL.  293 

seem  to  have  a  scriptural  hope  of  peace  with  God,  who 
date  so  far  back  the  origin  of  their  hope.  And  if  you 
are  authorized  in  your  hope,  it  can  easily  be  tested. 
For  the  spiritual  life  of  those  who  are  renewed  in  bap- 
tism, although  it  may  be  somewhat  different  in  its 
origin  from  that  of  those  who  are  regenerated  after- 
wards, is  yet,  in  its  continuance,  precisely  similar. 
All  the  spiritually  living  depend  for  the  habitual  accep- 
tance of  themselves  and  their  offerings  upon  the  same 
blood  of  Christ,  upon  the  repetition  of  that  same  view 
of  their  own  necessity,  of  that  same  act  of  faith  in 
Jesus,  by  which  the  three  thousand  adult  converts,  on 
the  first  Christian  Pentecost,  were  reconciled  to  God, 
and  had  their  sins  forgiven.  All  true  Christians,  how- 
ever and  whenever  they  were  originally  regenerated, 
are  at  least  alike  renewed,  day  by  day. 

Have  we,  then,  in  this  sermon,  described  your  daily 
experience?  Is  the  fallow-ground  of  your  natural 
heart  thus,  again  and  again,  habitually  broken  up  ?  Is 
your  professed  daily  access  to  the  Father  thus  through 
the  Lord  and  by  the  Spirit  ?  Does  the  blood  of  Christ, 
who  through  the  eternal  Spirit,  offered  himself  without 
spot  to  God,  thus  purge  your  conscience  from  dead 
works  to  serve  the  living  God  ?  If  so,  then  rejoice  in 
that  spiritual  life  which  was  conveyed  to  you  in  in- 
fancy at  baptism,  or  in  any  other  time  or  way.  But 
if  not,  then  know  that  the  Spirit  of  God  unites  every 
conscious  soul  to  whom  he  has  imparted  life,  to  Christ; 
and  that  as  Jeremiah,  in  the  words  succeeding  our 
text,  exhorted  those  Jews  who  trusted  in  the  circum- 
cision which  they  received  when  they  were  eight  days 
old,  to  circumcise  the  foreskin  of  their  hearts,  so  it 


294  PARTIAL  CHANGES  INEFFECTUAL. 

becomes  me  to  urge  you,  who  refer  to  your  infant 
baptism,  to  be  baptized  in  your  hearts  by  the  Spirit  of 
God ;  to  wash  by  faith  in  that  blood  of  Christ  which 
cleanseth  from  all  sin;  to  break  up  your  fallow-ground, 
and  sow  not  among  thorns.  Oh !  what  a  harvest  of 
disaj^pointment  and  woe  will  the  natural  thorny  ground 
bear  in  the  hour  of  death,  upon  the  judgment  day,  and 
throughout  eternity ! 

Brethren,  brethren,  break  up  your  fallow-ground ; 
test  the  fact  of  its  having  been  broken,  by  your  coming 
to  the  Father  always  by  Jesus  Christ  and  him  cruci- 
fied, and  by  your  refusing,  in  your  inmost  soul,  to 
glory  save  in  the  cross  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour, 
Jesus  Christ. 


SERMON  XX. 


DOUBLE-HE  ARTE  DNESS. 


Matt.  vi.  24. 

"No    MAK    CAN    SERVE    TWO    MASTERS." 

This  seems  to  have  been  a  proverb,  and,  in  its  lite- 
ral accei3tation,  carries  conviction  on  its  face.  If  any 
of  us  should  engage  to  obey  two  persons,  we  should 
soon  find  ourselves  under  the  necessity  of  violating 
our  obligations  to  the  one  or  the  other.  Their  com- 
mands would  mutually  interfere  with  each  other :  they 
would  frequently  be  issued  at  the  same  time,  requiring 
prompt  obedience ;  and  to  defer  compliance  with  either, 
in  such  a  case,  would  be  utterly  to  disregard  the  source 
from  which  it  proceeded.  The  master  who  was  thus  neg- 
lected must,  from  pure  self-respect,  invent  some  effectual 
test  of  his  authority.  We  should  be  forced  to  declare 
our  preference  and  allegiance  :  we  should  be  made  to 
appear  to  love  the  one,  and  to  hate  the  other,  or  else 
to  hold  to  the  one  and  to  despise  the  other.  We  might 
previously  have  persuaded  ourselves  that  it  would  be 
difficult,  if  not  impossible,  for  us  to  choose  between 
the  two :  we  might  have  amiably  professed  an  equal 
attachment  to  each,  and  a  like  readiness  to  serve 
either;  but  the  force  of  these  circumstances  would 


296  DOUBLE-HEARTEDNESS. 

compel  us  to  take  our  ground ;  we  would  be  obliged 
to  own  to  ourselves,  and  to  show  to  others,  whom  we 
acknowledge  as  supreme,  and  we  would  ever  after 
admit  that  no  one  can  serve  two  masters. 

Such,  then,  is  the  well-founded  proverb,  adopted  and 
used  by  our  Lord  in  the  text.  He  here  applies  it  to  the 
case  of  one  of  his  disciples,  who  should  be  endeavor- 
ing, at  the  same  time,  to  lay  up  both  earthly  and 
heavenly  treasures.  He  pronounces  this  to  be  so 
impossible  as  to  be  equivalent  to  the  attempt  to 
serve  two  masters.  "Ye  cannot,"  he  insists,  "serve 
God  and  Mammon."  That  it  is,  moreover,  emphati- 
cally impracticable  for  God  to  admit  a  rival  to  his  au- 
thority, is  obvious.  God  denominates  himself  "jealous." 
He  is,  too,  omniscient;  acquainted  with  all  our  acts, 
however  minute,  and  with  every  feeling,  and  wish,  and 
thought  of  our  hearts.  His  providences  would  be  so 
ordered  as  to  test  the  state  of  our  affections,  and  re- 
quire us  to  show  whom  we  really  preferred,  whom  we 
supremely  served.  The  only  difficulty,  therefore, 
which  we  can  experience  in  admitting  the  force  of  our 
Saviour's  application  of  the  proverb  in  the  text,  must 
arise  from  our  not  seeing  the  propriety  of  regarding 
earthly  treasure  in  the  light  of  a  master.  So  foreign, 
indeed,  is  this  representation  to  the  usual  conceptions 
of  the  case,  that  it  obviously  requires  some  explana- 
tion in  order  to  show  its  justice. 

Let  this,  then,  be  our  first  inquiry :  How  and  when 
can  property  be  justly  viewed  as  the  master  of  him 
who  owns  it?  The  heaper-up  of  earthly  riches  fondly 
conceives  of  his  treasure  rather  in  the  light  of  his 
slave  than  of  his  master.     He  looks  upon  it  as  a  crea- 


DOUBLE-HE  ARTEDNESS.  297 

ture  of  his  own,  amassed  for  his  own  purposes,  and  to 
be  used  at  his  private  discretion.  In  certain  aspects 
of  the  case,  too,  this  estimate  of  his  wealth  is  no  doubt 
correct.  He  can  change  its  nature,  investing  it  differ- 
ently ;  or  he  may  expend  a  portion  or  the  whole  of  it 
upon  his  pleasures,  or  in  accomplishing  any  other 
object  of  his  heart.  But,  although  we  admit  that  his 
property  is  in  this  sense  under  his  absolute  control, 
yet  if  he  regard  his  money  as  necessary  to  his  security 
or  happiness ;  if  his  dependence  upon  it  be  such  that 
its  loss  would  overwhelm  him  with  want  and  distress; 
if  his  affections  and  thoughts  are  chiefly  employed  in 
making  additions  to  his  stores,  or  in  insuring  their 
safety,  can  his  condition  be  viewed  in  any  other  way 
than  that  of  the  most  abject  servitude  to  his  riches  ? 
For  what  more  could  one  of  the  old  feudal  lords  have 
expected,  or  received,  of  his  most  loyal  vassal,  than 
that  his  follower  should,  in  a  similar  manner,  rejoice  in 
his  prosperity,  be  grieved  at  his  adversity,  and  regard 
his  life  as  absolutely  essential  to  his  own  welfare  ? 

Say  not  the  two  cases  are  different ;  because 
the  slave  loves  the  person  of  his  master,  but  the 
heaper-up  of  riches  regards  them  simply  as  means  for 
a  certain  end ;  that  he  seeks  them,  for  instance,  either 
to  increase  his  own  importance  and  influence  in  society, 
or  to  provide  for  the  infirmities  of  age,  or,  in  case  of 
death,  to  support  his  widowed  wife  and  fatherless  chil- 
dren. Some  philosophers  would  tell  you  that  the  attach- 
ment of  the  vassal  to  his  chief  would,  if  analyzed, 
develope  some  ultimate  selfish  interest,  and  that  the 
cases  were  not,  therefore,  so  essentially  different  as 


298  DOUBLE-HEARTEDNESS. 

they  might  appear  to  be  at  first  sight.  But,  without 
insisting  on  this  speculation,  we  may  at  least  well 
doubt  whether,  in  a  great  majority  of  instances,  riches 
are  not  loved  for  their  own  sake,  and  as  being  in  them- 
selves an  end,  under  whatever  pretext  they  be  sought. 
Has  not  many  a  prosperous  man  borne  testimony  to 
what  have  been  called,  and  are  well  known,  as  "  the 
pleasures  of  accumulation?"  and,  after  every  reason- 
able want  aud  anticipation  of  the  capitalist  himself,  or 
of  his  descendants,  have  been  provided  for,  yet  if 
further  accumulation  be  stayed  or  lessened,  have  not 
happiness,  and  even  health,  and  life  itself  often  been 
sacrificed  ?  Who,  in  the  course  of  his  own  observation, 
has  not  met  with  cases  similar  to  that  which  the  wise 
man  noted  as  among  the  instances  of  "vanity  and  sore 
travail  under  the  sun  ?"  "  There  is,"  saith  he,  "  one 
alone,  and  there  is  not  a  second;  yea,  he  hath  neither 
child  nor  brother:  yet  is  there  no  end  of  all  his  labor; 
neither  is  his  eye  satisfied  with  riches ;  neither  saith 
he.  For  whom  do  I  labor,  and  bereave  my  soul  of 
good?"  Nor  is  the  miserly  bachelor  alone  in  this 
senseless  w^orship  of  riches  for  what  they  are  in  them- 
selves ;  but  many  a  husband  and  father  is  really 
guilty  of  the  same  idolatry,  although  it  be  convenient 
for  him  to  shield  himself  from  the  ignominious  charge, 
by  pleading  the  case  of  his  wife  and  children. 

But  it  matters  not  whether  earthly  treasure  be 
prized  for  its  own  sake,  or  for  some  end  for  which  it 
is  needed.  If  it  be  considered  as  necessary  for  any 
object  under  heaven,  to  secure  which  we  have  devoted 
ourselves,  soul  and  body,  then,  whether  we  call  it  a 
means  or  an  end,  it  is  in  either  case  that  without 


DOUBLE-HEARTEDNESS.  299 

which  we  have  failed  in  the  dearest  purpose  of  our 
heart;  that,  without  which  we  have  lost  our  best 
friend,  the  hand  to  which  we  looked  for  the  supply  of 
our  chief  wants,  the  master  upon  whom  we  depended. 
No  loyal  subject,  ready  in  his  allegiance  to  offer  up 
his  life,  consults  with  more  solicitude  the  bulletins  of 
the  sick  king's  health,  than  many  a  jobber,  in  a  fluc- 
tuating state  of  the  market,  reads  the  reported  sales 
of  his  favorite  fancy,  or  many  a  merchant  inquires  the 
price  of  his  stock  in  trade. 

Now,  when  riches  beget  such  a  state  of  mind  in  their 
seeker  or  possessor,  need  we  point  out  which  is  the 
master,  or  who  is  the  slave?  Let  one,  then,  thus 
affected  towards  the  wealth  which  he  either  owns 
or  covets,  professedly  undertake  the  service  of  God, 
and  the  utter  incompatibility  of  the  state  of  his  heart 
with  his  assumed  obligations  will  soon  appear.  He 
wears  the  livery  of  one  who  asserts  the  right  of  dis- 
posing of  him  and  his,  in  the  same  way  and  to  the 
same  degree  in  which  the  potter  uses  his  clay ;  who 
has  published  the  edict,  that  "  whosoever  shall  keep 
the  whole  law,  and  yet  offend  in  one  point,  he  is  guilty 
of  all ;"  and  the  first  law  of  whose  kingdom  is,  "  Son, 
daughter,  give  me  thy  heart."  There  must  be  no  re- 
serves ;  it  is  "  all  thy  heart"  which  I  require.  Such 
are  the  statutes  of  the  King  to  whose  eye  all  the 
thoughts  and  purposes  of  the  hearts  of  his  subjects 
are  open. 

Need  we  say,  that  however  consistent  an  exterior 
a  professor  of  religion  may  maintain,  yet  if  he  have, 
in  the  way  described,  "made  gold  his  hope,  or  said  to 
the  fine  gold,  Thou  art  my  confidence ;  if  he  have  thus 


300  DOUBLE-HEARTEDNESS. 

rejoiced  because  his  wealth  was  great,  and  because  his 
hand  had  gotten  much,"  he  is  already,  without  the 
application  of  any  outward  test,  a  transgressor  in  the 
sight  of  Him  who  sits  upon  the  throne.  He  may, 
indeed,  be  left  to  deceive  himself  and  fellow-creatures, 
and  not  awake  to  a  sense  of  his  real  spiritual  condition, 
until  he  stand  before  the  final  bar,  and  is  about  to  be 
punished  for  his  iniquity  by  the  Judge.  But,  generally 
speaking,  it  is  his  own  fault  if  he  do  not  ascertain  the 
relations  in  which  he  stands  to  God ;  for  Providence 
furnishes  the  means  by  which  he  can  see  his  character 
in  its  true  light,  and  others  know  how  to  appreciate 
him,  even  if  he  do  not  understand  himself 

He  may  receive  from  the  Head  of  the  Church  a  plain 
call,  like  that  addressed  to  the  young  man  in  the  Gos- 
pel, to  sell  all  that  he  has,  and  to  engage  in  some  obscure 
work  of  love,  or  to  go  far  hence  to  the  Gentiles ;  and 
yet  his  great  possessions  may  induce  him  to  turn  a 
deaf  ear  to  the  divine  injunction,  or  persuade  him  that 
it  proceeded  from  some  other  source  than  Christ.  The 
ever-varying  necessities  of  the  cause  of  his  professed 
heavenly  master,  may  be  constantly  making  their 
appeals  to  hint  for  help,  and  yet,  under  one  pretext  or 
another,  he  steels  his  heart  against  every  such  ap- 
proach, and  he  never  cheerfully  and  bountifully  looses 
the  strings  of  his  purse  to  such  an  application,  but  goes 
on  to  hoard  his  gains.  While  genuine  disciples  of  the 
Lord  whom  he  avowedly  serves,  are  engaged  in  their 
closets,  or  in  the  stated  week-day  communion  of  the 
saints,  he  resorts  not  to  these  Bethels,  but  is  engaged 
in  summing  up  his  profits,  or  in  considering  the  pros- 
pects of  some  new  investment.     It  may  be  well,  if 


DOUBLE-HE  ARTEDNESS.  301 

even  in  the  house  of  God,  on  the  Lord's  day,  instead 
of  being  in  the  Spirit,  his  heart  and  mind  have  not 
gone  after  their  idols.  "Where  your  treasure  is, 
there,"  our  Saviour  hath  well  said,  "will  your  heart 
be  also ;"  and  therefore,  when  a  professed  disciple  is 
devoted  to  laying  up  treasure  on  earth,  whose  fault  is 
it  if  he  does  not  know  that  he  "  cannot  serve  two 
masters  ?" 

Have  we  not  now  said  enough  to  justify  our  Lord 
in  applying  the  proverb  in  the  text  to  the  case  of 
every  one  of  his  outward  followers,  who  seeks  for 
worldly  riches  with  such  engrossment  as  to  prove  that 
he  looks  upon  them  in  the  light  of  a  treasure,  neces- 
sary to  preserve  him  from  wants  and  ills  which  he  is 
not  willing  to  suifer,  or  to  provide  him  with  those 
comforts  and  luxuries  which  he  chooses  to  regard  as 
indispensable  ? 

But,  in  making  this  appear,  we  have  likewise  shown 
the  impracticability  of  rendering  the  real  service  of 
God  consistent  with  regarding  any  worldly  object,  or 
pursuit,  or  pleasure,  as  essential  to  our  welfare — we 
have  seen  that  every  creature,  or  enjoyment  which 
rivals  God  in  our  hearts,  which  lays  a  claim  to  that 
time  and  affection  belonging  exclusively  to  him,  is 
another  master — ^^vhom,  if  we  do  not  totally  renounce, 
we  shall  be  justly  considered  as  serving — ^upon  the 
maxim,  that  we  cannot  serve  two  masters.  Our  text, 
therefore,  is  just  as  applicable  to  every  idolatrous,  as 
it  is  to  the  covetous  professor — to  every  instance  in 
which  any  creature  object  is  allowed  to  vie  with  God 
in  our  affections,  as  to  the  case  in  which  riches  usurp 
his  throne  in  our  hearts  j  and  thus  we  reach  the  gene- 


302  DOUBLE-HEAETEDNESS. 

ral  conclusion  which  St.  Paul  states  in  inspired  words : 
"  his  serA^ants  ye  are  to  whom  ye  obey."  Are  there 
not,  moreover,  many  in  the  visible  Church  of  Christ 
as  deeply  absorbed  in  the  pursuit  of  other  earthly 
objects,  as  some  are  in  seeking  the  mammon  of  un- 
righteousness ?  Should  not  their  position  also  be 
defined?  Should  not  the  vanity  of  attempting  to 
reconcile  the  service  of  God  with  the  engrossment  of 
our  hearts  in  securing  any  of  its  worldly  purposes  be 
faithfully  laid  bare  ? 

Let  us,  then,  as  specimens  of  the  whole,  point  out 
one  or  two  other  instances  of  the  kind.  Must  not  a 
man  be  blind,  who  sees  not  that  the  honors  and  offices, 
loth  of  the  Church  and  State,  have  as  eager,  if  not  as 
numerous  votaries,  among  the  professed foUoivers  of  Christ, 
as  wealth  itself  can  boast  ?  Do  they  not,  moreover, 
exert  an  equally  pernicious  spiritual  influence  ?  They 
leave  as  little  real  time  and  affection  to  their  wor- 
shipper to  devote  to  the  service  of  God,  as  ever  the 
miser  himself  enjoys.  With  their  pursuit,  their 
follower  permits  not  the  closet  and  the  public  sanc- 
tuary to  interfere.  They  absorb,  perhaps,  his  heart 
and  attention,  even  while  his  body  is  in  the  place  and 
attitude  of  worship.  With  what  solicitude  does  he 
seek  great  things  for  himself!  With  what  care  does 
he  mould  every  act  and  word  of  his  Hfe,  which  can 
have  a  bearing  on  his  success !  Under  his  unhallowed 
aspirations,  he  may  become  a  flatterer  with  his  lips — 
a  mere  seeker  of  popularity,  striving  to  please  men 
rather  than  God.  If  he  be  a  minister  of  the  sanctuary, 
he  may  even,  for  the  time  being,  modify  the  message 
with  which  he  has  been  entrusted  by  the  Author  of 


DOUBLE-HEARTEDNESS.  303 

Salvation  to  perishing  souls.     While  he  is  thus,  too, 
sadly  proving  in  the  sight  of  all,  that  he  is  the  servant 
of  sin, — while  he  is  a  notorious  instance  of  the  impos- 
sibihty  of  serving  two  masters,  he  may  be  utterly 
unconscious  of  his  guilt,  and  of  the  real  character  of 
the   course  he  is  pursuing.      As  the   covetous  man 
excuses  himself  under  the  plea,  that  he  who  provideth 
not  for  his  own  hath  denied  the  faith  and  is  worse 
than  an  infidel;    so  the  ambitious  man  justifies  his 
conduct.     He  not  only  regards  the  use  of  worldly 
means,  in  order  to  secure  his  end,  consistent  with  his 
allegiance  to  God ;  but  may  persuade  himself,  that  he 
is  verily,  in  this,  doing  God  service,— that  he  is  only 
seeking  that  station  for  which  his  talents  qualify  him 
better  than  his  competitors,  and  in  which  he  can  exert 
a  wide-spread  influence  for  the  good  of  the  Church 
and  the  glory  of  its  head.     But,  instead  of  fulfilling 
the  intentions  with  which  he  set  out,  his  success  is 
used  only  as  the  lowest  round  of  the  ladder  which  he 
has  begun  to  climb ;  and  as  he  ascends,  his  eye— far 
from  looking  upward  to  Him  who  sits  on  the  glorious 
high  throne,  and  at  whose  feet  he  is  bound  to  cast 

both  his  person  and  his  honors,  with  a  song  of  praise 

is  cast  downward  on  the  admiring  and  applauding 
crowds  below.  Or,  perhaps,  his  most  strenuous  efforts 
result  only  in  failure;  and— instead  of  cheerfully  sub- 
mitting to  the  will  of  God,  and  faithfully  serving  him 
in  that  more  obscure  sphere  which  Providence  has 
assigned— his  heart  may  be  fiUed  with  bitterness  and 
suspicion  towards  his  feUow-men,  and,  if  he  decUne 
not  every  duty,  he  may  occupy  his  post  with  a  spirit 
unhappy  and  morose.     Thus,  what  began  with  such 


304  DOUBLE-HEARTEDNESS. 

encouraging  spiritual  promises,  ends  with  setting  at 
defiance  the  entire  will  of  God ;  the  man  who  had  not 
faith  to  believe  that  his  Heavenly  Master  had  the 
power  to  place  him  in  any  position  where  he  desired 
his  instrumentality,  either  without  his  using  any 
means,  or  at  least  only  those  which  were  obviously 
godly,  and  who  therefore  would  not  wait — that  man 
proves  that  he  recklessly  hurried  on,  not  to  serve  and 
glorify  his  God,  but  to  exalt  himself 

Oh!  brethren,  "ye  cannot  serve  two  masters."  God 
requires  all  the  heart,  or  he  will  take  none.  He  must 
be  our  Potter,  and  we  his  clay.  Nothing  will  suffice 
us  short  of  the  spirit,  which  Newton  ascribed  to  the 
angel,  whom  he  brought,  in  imagination,  on  an  errand 
from  heaven  to  the  earth;  and  who,  at  the  bidding  of 
God,  was  as  willing  to  sweep  the  streets,  as  to  sit 
upon  the  British  throne.  Nothing  short  of  that  "mind 
which  was  in  Christ  Jesus,  who,  being  in  the  form  of 
God,  thought  it  not  robbery  to  be  equal  with  God,  yet 
made  himself  of  no  reputation,  and  took  upon  him  the 
form  of  a  servant,  and  was  made  in  the  likeness  of 
men,  and  being  found  in  fashion  as  a  man,  he  humbled 
himself,  and  became  obedient  unto  death,  even  the 
death  of  the  cross."  The  exclusive  motto  of  our 
hearts  must  be:  "Not  unto  us,  not  unto  us,  but  unto 
Thy  name  give  glory."  "Ye  cannot  serve  two 
masters." 

But,  briefly,  once  more.  Are  there  not  many  attempts 
in  the  visible  Church  of  Christ  to  reconcile  Christian 
profession  ivitli  conformity  to  the  gay  and  fashionable 
zvorld?  Under  how  many  plausible  pretexts  is  this 
practised ! 


DOUBLE-HEARTEDNESS.  305 

"Must  I  not  assimilate,"  says  one,  "in  some  degree, 
with  the  customs  of  society !  Then,  must  I  needs  go 
out  of  the  world,  or  at  least,  make  myself  singular  in 
it !  Surely  there  is  some  middle  path  in  which  I  may 
safely  walk — I  need  not  be  of  the  world,  while  in  it. 
There  are  undoubtedly  many  foolish  and  reprehensible 
things  to  be  noticed  in  the  circles  of  amusements, 
which  I  sometimes  attend;  but  then,  for  that  matter, 
it  will  not  do  to  scrutinize  those  who  go  to  Church, 
too  closely.  I  wish  to  pursue  the  golden  mean;  it  is 
not  good  to  be  righteous  overmuch.  Besides,  I  shall 
not  only  deprive  myself  of  much  innocent  pleasure  by 
such  exclusiveness,  but  I  shall  soon  be  marked  and 
shunned,  and  lose  all  power  and  opportunity  for  use- 
fulness." 

Again,  that  professedly  Christian  mother  will  tell 
you:  "I  have  no  love  for  places  of  the  kind.  It  is 
not  for  myself  that  I  go  there,  but  simply  to  use  them 
as  a  safety-valve  for  the  dissipated  spirit  of  my  son, 
who,  I  fear,  would  seek  worse  resorts,  if  he  were  not 
allowed  some  harmless  pleasures  of  the  kind."  Or, 
"it  is  for  my  daughter's  sake,  that  I  frequent  balls. 
She  must  enter  the  world  in  which  she  is  to  move. 
It  wiU  not  answer  to  keep  her  moping  at  home,  or  to 
confine  her  to  those  narrow  circles  in  which  she  will 
meet  with  those  stupid,  humdrum  characters  yclept 
saints;  and  where  she  can  never  make  an  eligible 
match."  How  many  a  young  man,  too,  who  had 
hopefully  taken  upon  him  the  yoke  of  Christ,  has  yet 
been  lured  from  that  Christian  sphere,  to  which,  at 
the  outset  of  his  profession,  he  confined  himself,  and 
in  which  he  found  it  a  suflicient  task  to  keep  the  flesh 
20 


306  DOUBLE-HEARTEDNESS. 

in  subjection,  though  avoiding  every  unnecessary  temp- 
tation, and  using  all  the  means  of  grace — ^has  been 
lured,  I  say,  into  the  same  whirlpools  of  gaiety,  in 
the  hope  of  there  meeting  and  furthering  Ms  suit  with 
one  on  whom  he  should  never  have  set  his  heart,  and 
with  whom,  if  he  were  spiritually-minded,  he  would 
never  enjoy  any  happiness ! 

But  how  flimsy  are  such  pretexts  I  how  sad  are  the 
sphitual  consequences  of  such  a  course !  Even  while 
following  it,  supreme  friendship  for  the  world  and 
actual  enmity  to  God,  are  often  betrayed.  The  ap- 
pointments of  the  world  and  the  Church  may  some- 
times clash.  While  the  people  of  God,  at  their  stated 
seasons  of  worship,  are  assembled,  and  seeking  and 
enjoying  communion  with  Christ,  according  to  that 
promise:  "Where  two  or  three  are  gathered  together 
in  my  name,  there  am  I  in  the  midst  of  them,"  these 
apologists  of  worldliness  are  preparing  their  persons 
for,  if  they  are  not  at  the  very  time  immersed  in, 
scenes  where  God  seldom  enters,  unless  it  be  as  Judge 
to  note  and  condemn.  Worldly  habits  and  thoughts 
are  gradually  and  habitually  indulged.  Spiritual  asso- 
ciations are  lost.  Closet  duties  are  discharged  with 
little  interest  and  profit.  Public  services  lose  their 
power  and  degenerate  into  little  more  than  a  mere 
form.  Instead  of  growth  in  grace,  there  is  actual 
backsliding;  and  it  is  but  too  evident  that  while  the 
body  is  sometimes  in  accordance  with  Christian  pro- 
fession, loaned  to  the  Lord,  the  heart  is  wholly  given 
to  the  world.  When  the  object,  for  which  this  routine 
of  worldliness  was  avowedly  begun,  is  reached,  there 
are  but  little  desire  and  no  power  to  shake  off  the 


BOUBLE-HEARTEDNESS.  307 

cliains  which  they  recklessly  fastened  on  themselves. 
The  Spirit,  who  once  graciously  waited  to  sanctify 
and  save,  is  withdrawn ;  and  they  ever  after  remain 
a  melancholy  instance  and  proof  of  the  utter  vanity  of 
attempting  to  serve  two  masters. 

We  have  alluded  to  only  a  few  of  the  more  common 
phases  of  the  temptation  and  sin,  whose  character  and 
consequences  we  have  been  endeavoring  to  depict, 
and  time  will  not  allow  us  to  dwell  on  any  more ;  hut 
all  that  has  been  said  is  applicable  to  every  endeavor 
to  divide  the  heart  and  attention  between  God  and 
any  creature,  between  his  service  and  the  pursuit  of 
any  earthly  object.  It  is  not  only  the  covetous,  or 
the  ambitious,  or  the  gay  professor,  who  is  condemned 
by  our  Lord  in  the  text,  but  the  voluptuary,  the  glut- 
ton, the  unchaste,  the  raifeeling,  and  if  there  be  any 
other  character  in  the  visible  Church  inconsistent  with 
the  example  of  Jesus  and  the  law  of  God — all  are 
excluded,  by  this  clause  of  the  Sermon  on  the  mount, 
from  the  true  household  of  faith.  Every  such  char- 
acter is  just  as  ready  in  urging  excuses  for  his  beset- 
ting infirmity  and  in  maintaining  the  consistency  of 
its  indulgence  with  allegiance  to  Christ,  as  are  those 
delinquents  whom  we  have  more  at  large  portrayed. 
But  the  pleas  of  one  and  all  will  not  endure  scrutiny 
in  the  light  of  God's  word ;  and  the  attempt  to  show 
in  their  own  case  the  practicabihty  of  what  is  denied 
in  the  text  proves  fatal  to  their  souls.  It  is  required 
of  the  believer,  that  be  seek  first  the  kingdom  of  God 
and  his  righteousness,  with  the  assurance,  that  other 
things  shall  be  added,  unto  him;  and  if  this  object  be 
not  supreme,  if  rivalry  be  allowed,  the  new  lord  wiU 


308  DOUBLE-HEARTEDNESS. 

soon  be  left  to  an  undisputed  dominion;  for  Jesus  hath 
forewarned  his  disciples:  "ye  cannot  serve  two  mas- 
ters." 

FeUow-soldiers  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  there  is 
no  grace  held  in  higher  estimation  by  the  Captain  of 
our  Salvation,  than  that  of  a  single  eye.  When  the 
hosts  of  Israel  were  all  marshalled,  it  is  said  by  the 
Spirit  of  Inspiration,  in  special  praise  of  the  fifty  thou- 
sand of  Zebulon  "which  could  keep  rank:"  "they 
were  not  of  double  heart."  Can  the  Rock  of  Ages 
have  any  sympathy  with  one  who  "is  unstable  in  aU 
his  ways  ?"  And  such  the  inspired  apostle  pronounces 
"  the  double-minded  man"  to  be.  The  curse  of  Reuben, 
Israel's  first-born,  was  that  "he  should  not  excel," 
and  he  was  disinherited,  because  "he  was  unstable  as 
water" — The  cause  of  his  instability  and  ruin  must, 
according  to  St.  James,  have  been  his  double  heart. 

Oh!  if  you  would  not  ever  continue  dwarfish  in 
your  spiritual  stature — if  you  would  not  begin  to 
grow  weak  and  languid — if  you  would  "strengthen 
the  things  which  remain  in  you,  and  which  are  ready 
to  die," — if  you  would  not  bring  yourselves  under  the 
final  ban  of  God — "purify  your  hearts,  ye  double- 
minded."  Set  your  face  exclusively  Godward,  and 
let  it  be  "like  a  flint."  Such  was  the  determination 
of  the  Son  of  God  in  his  own  house;  and  shall  less 
be  expected  of  the  professed  servants,  when  they  have 
such  a  high  example  ?  It  was  written  of  Him :  "  The 
zeal  of  thine  house  hath  eaten  me  up;"  and  should 
not  we  be  "fervent  in  spirit"  in  oui'  service  of  the 
Lord?  ShaU  a  foreign  affection  be  allowed  to  enter 
our  hearts — to  dilute  our  love  for  God — and  make  us 


DOUBLE-HEARTEDNESS.  309 

neither  cold  nor  hot,  but  lukewarm,  in  our  feelings 
towards  him  whom  we  have  bound  ourselves  to  serve  ? 
"  It  is  good  always  to  be  zealously  affected."  Shall 
we,  then,  need  some  perpetual  spur — some  stirring 
sermon — some  expostulation  of  a  faithful  Christian 
friend,  to  rouse  us,  ever  and  anon,  to  maintain  a  con- 
sistent spiritual  walk?  We  were  not  half-redeemed; 
let  us  not  therefore  be  content  with  serving  God  in 
part.  "Ye  were  bought  with  a  price," — and  that  too, 
"not  with  such  corruptible  things  as  silver  and  gold, 
but  with  the  precious  blood  of  Christ," — "therefore 
glorify  God,  in  your  bodies  and  your  spirits  which  are 
his."  "Ye  cannot  serve  two  masters;"  but  "the  love 
of  Christ  should  constrain  you,  and  you  should  thus 
judge,  that  if  one  died  for  all,  then  were  all  dead,  and 
that  he  died,  that  they  which  live,  should  not  hence- 
forth live  unto  themselves,  but  unto  him  which  died 
for  them,  and  rose  again." 

But  while  we  have  dealt  thus  faithfully  with  the 
double-minded,  there  is  a  beloved  class  of  our  hearers, 
whom  we  must  endeavor,  in  closing,  to  shield  from 
any  injurious  effects  from  what  has  been  said.  Be- 
lievers themselves,  while  they  remain  in  the  flesh,  are 
not  perfect,  and  do  not  attain,  in  their  service  of  God, 
to  that  purity  at  which  they  aim.  It  is  their  constant 
confession,  that  what  they  would  not  that  they  do; 
and  that  what  they  do,  that  they  would  not.  Their 
short-comings,  however,  are  not  wilful.  They  groan 
over  them.  It  is  a  bondage  to  which  they  are  un- 
willingly subject,  and  from  which  they  desire  to  be 
freed.  With  an  unevangelical  severity,  they  are 
ready,  on  account  of  remaining  sin,  to  doubt  whether 


310  DOUBLE-HE  ARTEDNESS. 

they  be  really  engaged  in  the  service  of  God,  and  to 
fear  that  they  have  no  right  to  the  portion  and  hopes 
of  his  people.  But,  beloved,  our  Lord  addresses  not 
the  warning  in  our  text  to  such  as  you.  On  the  con- 
trary, upon  the  ground  of  his  own  merits,  he  accepts 
most  favorably  all  your  works  of  faith  and  labors  of 
love.  Your  persons,  as  well  as  your  offerings,  he 
approves,  and  numbers  with  his  own.  He  encourages 
you  with  all-sufficient  promises  and  prospects.  You 
shall  realise  your  holy  aspirations  in  all  their  fullness. 
You  shall  form  one  "of  the  spirits  of  the  just  made 
perfect."  "Jesus  shall  appear  the  second  time  without 
sin  unto  salvation."  "You  shall  be  made  like  unto 
him,  when  you  see  him  as  he  is."  "You  shall  be 
satisfied,  Avhen  you  awake  with  his  likeness."  And, 
in  the  meanwhile,  "  let  not  other  lords  have  dominion 
over  us;"  but,  "as  the  eyes  of  servants  look  unto  the 
hand  of  their  masters,  and  as  the  eyes  of  a  maiden  to 
the  hand  of  her  mistress;  so  let  our  eyes  wait  upon 
the  Lord  our  God,  until  that  he  have  mercy  upon  us." 


SEEMON  XXI. 


THE  TESTS  AND  OFFICE  OF  A  VALID  MINISTRY.— I. 


1  Cor.  iv.  1,  2. 


"  Let  a  man  so  account  of  us,  as  of  the  ministers  of  Christ,  and 
stewards  of  the  mysteries  of  god.  moreover,  it  is  required 
in  stewards,  that  a  man  be  found  faithful." 

Among  the  many  subjects  which  are  misunderstood, 
and  consequently  misapplied,  that  of  the  object  of  the 
ministry,  and  the  position  which  it  occupies  in  the 
economy  of  grace,  stands  prominent.  Obvious  reasons 
combine  to  render  it  liable  to  radical  misconception. 
Apart  from  an  infallible  revelation,  the  pretension, 
that  any  set  of  men  hold  peculiar  relations  to  God, 
and  have  any  special  right  to  speak  in  his  name,  is  not 
worthy  of  consideration.  Hence,  all  who  do  not  re- 
cognize the  divine  origin  of  the  Bible,  will  not  yield 
to  the  exercise  of  any  authority  by  a  fellow-man,  in 
the  name  of  Christ.  But  serious  misapprehension 
exists  on  this  point,  even  within  the  pale  of  the  Church 
of  God.  It  is  very  easy,  on  the  one  hand,  to  regard 
those  who  are  set  over  us  in  the  Lord  as  inspired,  and 
ourselves,  therefore,  as  bound  implicitly  to  follow  all 
their  directions ;  it  is  equally  easy,  on  the  other  hand, 
to  view  the  ministry  in  a  simply  professional  light, 
and  to  regard  them,  like  lawyers  and  physicians,  as 


312        TESTS  AND  OFFICE  OF  A  VALID  MINISTRY. 1. 

exclusively  dependent  upon  the  application  of  their 
talents,  and  the  study  of  their  standard  authors.  Even 
a  superficial  and  partial  examination  of  the  word  of 
God  itself  will  not  enlighten  any  inquirer  on  this  point, 
but  tend,  perhaps,  only  to  confirm  him  in  opinions, 
which  exaggerate,  or  undervalue,  the  importance  of 
the  office-bearers  in  the  house  of  God.  For  many 
declarations  on  this  subject  may  be  found  in  the  sacred 
Scriptures,  which  had  a  special  end  in  view,  and  which, 
therefore,  should  be  explained  and  qualified  by  a  com- 
parison of  the  various  passages  which  bear  upon  it. 

Aside,  therefore,  from  those  who  have  adopted  too 
high  or  too  low  an  estimate  of  the  rights  and  powers 
of  the  ministry,  there  is  a  large  body  of  professed 
believers  who  have  formed  no  definite  notions  respect- 
ing them,  and  who  therefore  act  very  inconsistently 
in  reference  to  them,  being  swayed  by  their  own  per- 
sonal or  other  capricious  fancies.     It  was  just  so  with 
the  great  mass  of  the  Corinthian  Church,  when  St. 
Paul  addressed  them  in  our  Epistle.     So  incapable 
were  they  of  examining  the  titles  of  those  who  claimed 
to  be  the  ministers  of  Christ;  so  ignorant  were  they 
of  the  powers  with  which  all  were  clothed,  whose  titles 
could  be  established;  so  free  did  they  regard  them- 
selves in  choosing,  according  to  some  earthly  standard, 
between  those  who  appeared  as  teachers  and  rulers  in 
the  house  of  God;  that  they  who  St.  Paul  intimates 
were  mere  human  philosophers  and  rhetoricians,  shared, 
in  common  with  the  apostle  and  his  associates,  the 
honor  of  being  followed  by  many  members  of  the 
visible  family  of  God ;  and  even  St.  Paul,  and  Apollos, 
and  Cephas,  and  Christ  himself,  were  regarded  as  their 


TESTS  AND  OFFICE  OF  A  VALID  MINISTRY. — I.        313 

respective  leaders  by  different  sections  of  the  Church. 
The  apostle  earnestly  remonstrates  with  them  on  this 
man-worshipping  and  schismatical  state,  in  terms  like 
these:  "Is  Christ  divided?  Was  Paul  crucified  for 
you?    or  were  ye  baptized  in  the  name  of  Paul?" 

Such,  then,  was  the  condition  of  the  Christians  at 
Corinth,  when  our  apostle  was  led  to  pen  the  decla- 
rations in  the  text,  as  an  antidote  to  the  errors  and 
evils  in  their  midst:  and  the  two  leading  questions 
which  suggest  themselves  for  our  consideration  are 
these :  First,  What  are  the  Scriptural  tests  of  a  valid 
ministry  ?  and  secondly.  What  are  the  powers  of  such  a 
ministry  ? 

Now,  the  reply  to  the  question,  hoiv  a  valid  ministry 
is  to  he  tested?  is  found  in  the  second  verse  of  our 
text;  which  reads,  "It  is  required  in  stewards  that  a 
man  be  found  faithful."  But  the  question  immediately 
arises.  By  whom  are  the  steivards  to  he  found  faithful  ? 
Who  is  the  judge  in  the  case  ?  It  is  of  course  aU  im- 
portant for  us  to  settle  this  point;  and  in  endeavoring 
to  decide  it,  we  have  no  objection  to  hear  what  either 
enhghtened  reason,  or  the  Scriptures  have  to  say  upon 
it.  Does  St.  Paul  afford  us  any  clue  in  this  matter? 
By  all  means.  If  we  look  into  the  verses  succeeding 
.  our  text,  we  will  find  a  very  satisfactory  answer :  and 
perhaps,  at  the  first  reading,  some  will  lay  down  the 
book,  and  say.  No  one  has  anything  to  do  with  judg- 
ing in  this  matter,  but  the  Lord ;  for  the  apostle  ex- 
pressly says,  that  "it  was  a  very  smaU  thing  that  he 
should  be  judged  of  the  Corinthians,  or  of  man's  judg- 
ment;" by  which  we  see  how  he  despised  human 
opinion  in  the  matter :  nay,  he  proceeds,  "  I  judge  not 


314        TESTS  AND  OFFICE  OF  A  VALID  MINISTRY. 1. 

mine  own  self," — from  which  it  appears,  that  he  re- 
frained from  forming  any  estimate  of  himself;  and 
then,  in  exclusion  of  every  creature  from  the  honor 
and  office  of  sitting  in  judgment  upon  his  ministry,  he 
declares,  "He  that  judgeth  me  is  the  Lord."  Nor 
can  it  be  denied,  brethren,  that  such  a  trial  and  judg- 
ment will  be  had.  We  read  in  the  previous  chapter, 
"Every  man's  [ministerial]  work  shall  be  tried;  for 
the  day  shall  declare  it,  because  it  shall  be  revealed 
by  fire;  and  the  fire  shall  try  every  man's  work,  of 
what  sort  it  is." 

How  solemn  and  eventful  will  be  that  day  of  the 
Lord  to  every  professed  minister  of  Christ!  when  his 
work  shall  be  thus  severely  and  infallibly  tried !  That 
day  should  be  kept  ever  in  view  by  all  who  hold  office 
in  the  visible  Church  on  earth.  It  should  be  the 
terror  of  every  false  or  negligent  apostle — while  it 
should  administer  consolation  and  hope,  to  every  faith- 
ful steward  of  God.  But,  my  hearers,  great  and  final 
as  will  be  the  judgment  of  that  day,  either  our  text 
supplies  us  with  no  present  proofs  of  the  vahdity  of  a 
man's  claims  to  be  the  minister  of  Christ,  or  else  it  is 
not  to  the  sentence  of  the  last  Judge  that  it  refers  us, 
as  a  means  of  finding  out  whether  the  steward  of  God 
is  faithful :  for  it  will  then  be  too  late  to  be  benefited 
by  the  decision.  Examine,  then,  the  passage  more 
closely;  and  you  will  perceive,  that  the  judgment  of 
the  Lord  in  this  case  is  to  be  delivered  not  in  the  first 
instance,  but  only  as  it  is  appealed  to  by  one  who  has 
been  wronged  by  a  lower  court,  or  else  insufficiently 
tried.  The  expression  of  the  apostle's  contempt  for 
the  judgment  of  his  ministry  by  his  fellow-men,  was 


TESTS  AND  OFFICE  OF  A  VALID  MINISTRY. 1.        315 

not  based  upon  his  denial  of  their  right  to  form  an 
opinion  in  the  premises.  For  he  well  knew,  that  upon 
their  reception  or  rejection  of  the  doctrine  which  he 
taught,  was  suspended  their  everlasting  salvation  or 
damnation;  and  that  the  heavy  responsibility  of  de- 
ciding in  this  matter  for  themselves  was,  therefore, 
imposed  upon  them.  But  St.  Paul  also  knew,  that 
their  approval  was  not  his  reward,  nor  their  condem- 
nation his  punishment,  even  if  it  were  correct;  and 
that,  moreover,  their  decision  was  liable  to  mistake. 
Hence,  he  hesitated  not  to  declare,  that  "with  him," 
i.  e.,  so  far  as  he  was  personally  concerned,  "it  was  a 
very  small  thing  to  be  judged  of  the  Corinthians,  or 
of  any  man's  judgment." 

Thus,  when  the  people  and  the  professed  minister 
of  Christ  disagree  concerning  the  teaching  and  claims 
of  the  latter,  there  is  no  infallible  tribunal  on  earth  to 
which  the  parties  can  appeal,  in  order  to  settle  the 
dispute.  The  decision  must  be  reserved  for  the  judg- 
ment of  the  Lord  in  the  last  day.  It  appears,  there- 
fore, that  the  apostle  did  not  mean  to  declare  in  the 
second  verse  of  our  text,  what  is  undoubtedly  true, 
that  the  minister  of  Christ  must  be  found  faithful  by 
the  Lord ;  but  that  he  must  be  found  faithful  by  man. 
And  his  reason  for  insisting  upon  this  was,  that  in 
the  first  verse,  he  had  ascribed  to  the  ministers  of 
Christ  the  fearfully  exalted  and  responsible  title  and 
office,  of  "  Stewards  of  the  mysteries  of  God."  He 
was,  therefore,  apprehensive,  lest  he  should  seem  by 
such  an  ascription  to  have  made  them  unHmited  lords 
over  God's  heritage ;  and  he  consequently  added,  that 
every  such  professed  steward  was  to  be  found  faithful 


316        TESTS  AND  OFFICE  OF  A  VALID  MINISTRY. 1. 

by  the  people,  ere  they  allowed  him  to  exercise  in 
their  case,  this  high  trust.  But  at  this  point,  a  system 
of  testing  ministerial  faithfulness  has  been  devised, 
which  relieves  each  individual  soul  of  the  responsi- 
bility of  judging,  and  refers  the  decision  exclusively 
to  those  who  have  been  elevated  to  places  of  authority 
in  the  Church. 

The  whole  Roman  Catholic  polity  is  based  upon 
this  theory;  and  many  in  our  own  Communion  are  its 
zealous  defenders.  According  to  this  scheme,  we  are 
bound,  in  seeking  for  a  minister  of  Christ,  only  to 
satisfy  ourselves  that  he  has  been  canonically  ordained 
to  this  office  by  those  who  are  set  apart  for  this  pur- 
pose, and  that  he  is  recognized  as  such  by  the  author- 
ities of  the  Church. 

Now,  far  be  it  from  us  to  undervalue  the  importance 
of  proper  regulations  on  this  subject,  in  the  house  of 
God.  They  are  both  necessary  and  scriptural.  With- 
out them,  the  Church  of  Christ  would  soon  be  at  sea, 
without  any  pilot,  or  be  utterly  at  a  loss  into  the 
hands  of  which  of  the  numerous  upstart  and  irrespon- 
sible candidates  for  the  post,  she  should  smTender  the 
helm.  On  this  very  point,  too,  Timothy  received  these 
directions  from  St.  Paul :  "  Lay  hands  suddenly  on  no 
man;"  and  "let  the  candidates  first  be  proved."  But 
while  all  this  is  freely  acknowledged,  still  we  insist 
that  after  and  beyond  this,  the  outwardly  recognized 
ministers  of  Christ  are  to  be  subjected  to  a  further 
trial  at  the  hands  of  those  to  whom  they  minister ; 
and  that,  at  the  peril  of  his  soul,  each  individual 
hearer  can  shrink  neither  from  the  holding  of  such  a 
trial,  nor  from  the  pronouncing  of  a  right  and  scrip- 


TESTS  AND  OFFICE  OF  A  VALID  MINISTRY. 1.        317 

tural  sentence  in  the  case.  This  can  he  shown  most 
conclusively  in  a  few  words. 

From  whence,  we  ask,  did  those  false  apostles  whom 
St.  Paul  denounced  in  the  Corinthian  church,  spring  ? 
Either  they  had  what  was  recognized  as  regular 
ordination,  or  they  had  not.  If  they  had  not,  then 
how,  according  to  the  scheme  which  we  are  opposing, 
is  it  to  he  accounted  for,  that  St.  Paul  does  not  call 
the  attention  of  his  Corinthian  brethren  to  the  fact, 
that  they  had  never  been  canonicaHy  ordained  to  the 
high  posts  which  they  were  presuming  to  fill  ?  This 
would  have  been,  on  the  supposition  before  us,  the 
direct  and  only  conclusive  mode  of  settling  the  con- 
troversy. On  the  contrary,  he  never  once  alludes  to 
the  subject.  If  now,  on  the  other  hand,  they  had 
been  canonicaHy  ordained, — and  this  fact  was  a  suffi- 
cient evidence  of  their  faithfulness, — why  does  St.  Paul 
occupy  a  considerable  portion  of  both  his  epistles  to 
them,  in  supplying  his  correspondents  with  the 
means  of  testing  their  authority  to  act  as  the  ministers 
of  Christ,  and  with  urging  them  to  be  dihgent  in  the 
application  of  those  tests  ?  All  this  would  have  been 
unnecessary,  if  they  had  already  sufficient  proof  of 
their  faithfulness  in  their  being  recognized  as  ministers 
by  the  authorities  of  the  church :  nay,  it  Avould  have 
been  worse  than  unnecessary — it  would  have  been 
positively  wrong,  if  it  were  neither  the  right  nor  the 
duty  of  those  to  whom  he  wrote,  to  bring  their  minis- 
ters to  such  a  trial. 

But,  brethren,  the  truth  of  which  we  are  endeavor- 
ing to  convince  you,  is  even  more  strikmgly  estab- 
lished.    St.  Paul  does  not  hesitate  to  bring  liimself  to 


318        TESTS  AND  OFFICE  OF  A  VALID  MINISTRY. 1. 

the  judgment-seat  of  the  Corinthian  Christians,  al- 
though his  own  commission  to  be  a  minister  of  Christ 
had  been  miraculously  bestowed  in  the  first  instance, 
and  had  ever  since  been  confirmed  by  the  exercise  of 
miraculous  powers. 

Although,  too,  it  was  but  a  small  thing  to  our  Re- 
deemer and  his  apostle  personally,  to  be  judged  of 
man's  judgment,  yet  the  reception  or  rejection  of  the 
message  which  they  bore,  inasmuch  as  their  commis- 
sion was  divine,  was  to  their  hearers  a  matter  of  life 
or  death. 

Having  thus  settled  the  point,  that  the  minister  of 
Christ  stands  at  the  bar  of  each  of  his  hearers,  and 
that  the  judge  is  bound,  by  the  most  fearful  sanctions, 
to  deliver  that  sentence  which  God  will  approve,  we 
come  now  to  ask.  How  can  the  scholar  try  the  teacher? 
How  can  an  ignorant,  fallen  soul  judge  whether  the 
doctrine  which  is  presented  to  him  be,  or  not,  of  God? 
How  can  a  man  ascertain  whether  he  hears  the  deep 
and  different  truths  of  God  in  right  proportions,  and 
in  such  a  way  as  should  cause  him  to  grow  into  thfe 
perfect  stature  of  Christ  ?  To  this  we  reply,  that  he 
who  is  what  God  has  a  right  to  expect  him  to  be,  is 
supplied  with  abundant  means  of  trying  the  ministry 
of  the  word,  and  of  deciding  as  to  its  true  character. 
God  has  not  placed  the  sheep  for  whom  Christ  died, 
under  the  power  of  wolves  dressed  in  sheep's  clothing; 
neither  does  he  allow  his  true  Church,  his  Church 
within  the  Church,  to  be  ruled  by  the  ministers  of 
Satan,  who  transform  themselves,  for  this  pui^pose, 
into  the  ministers  of  righteousness.  "When  he  who 
claims  to  be  a  minister  ef  Christ,  stands  up  in  the 


TESTS  AND  OFFICE  OF  A  VALID  MINISTRY. 1.        319 

midst  of  a  congregation  of  his  fellow-creatures,  with 
the  avowed  object  of  delivering  a  message  from  God, 
the  hearers  are  furnished  with  the  means  of  testing 
both  his  pretensions  and  his  words.  In  reference  to 
all  such,  they  have  previously  received  this  direction : 
"  To  the  law  and  to  the  testimony ;  if  they  speak  not 
according  to  this  word,  it  is  because  there  is  no  light 
in  them."  Thus  we  see,  that  every  scripturally- 
minded  hearer  is  provided  with  the  means  of  defence 
against  all  erroneous  teachers. 

So  far,  therefore,  as  relates  to  his  own  personal  edi- 
fication, every  one  who  makes  God's  testimonies  his 
meditation,  is  able  to  declare  with  David,  "I  have 
more  understanding  than  all  my  teachers."  Yes,  by 
the  grace  given  to  him,  by  the  Spirit  who  is  within 
him,  there  is  an  appHcation  made  to  his  soul,  of  all 
God's  word  wliich  he  hears,  infinitely  more  precious 
and  saving  than  the  best  minister  of  Christ  ever  de- 
signed in  his  case,  when  he  dehvered  to  him  the  mes- 
sage of  God.  In  the  secret  of  rejecting  what  is 
hurtful,  or  of  applying  what  is  profitable  to  his  own 
case,  every  disciple  of  Christ  has  more  understanding 
than  all  who  rise  up  to  instruct  Mm ;  and  the  humblest 
private  Christian  is  in  this,  to  him  most  important  pro- 
vince, superior  to  the  most  exalted  and  gifted  ofiicer 
in  the  churth. 

Thus  the  most  ilhterate  spiritual  scholar  can  find 
out  whether  the  experienced  teacher  is  faithful.  "My 
sheep,"  said  Jesus,  "  know  my  voice,  and  they  follow 
me ;  and  a  stranger  wiU  they  not  follow,  nor  be  led 
by  him;  for  they  know  not  the  voice  of  strangers." 
The  light  and  the  truth  which  God  originally  sent  forth 


320       TESTS  AND  OFFICE  OF  A  VALID  MINISTRY. — I. 

to  lead  his  children  to  his  holy  hill,  they  followed  with 
conscious  footsteps;  and  w^henever  it  shows  itself, 
they  are  capable  of  recognizing  it  again.  They,  too, 
can  distinguish  it  from  all  the  fire  and  sparks  which 
men  are  able  to  kindle.  The  judgments  which  God 
has  recorded  in  his  word  are,  day  by  day,  sweeter 
than  honey  and  the  honey-comb,  to  those  who  eat  at 
his  table ;  and  creature  husks  they  will  not  allow  to 
be  substituted  for  the  bread  of  life.  Thus,  the  testi- 
mony of  the  Lord  is  able  to  make  wise  the  simple ; 
and  the  commandment  of  the  Lord  is  capable  of  en- 
lightening the  eyes. 

Is,  therefore,  the  Scripture  an  infalUble  test  of  the 
ministry  in  every  hand  ?  Is  every  reader  of  God's 
word  capable  of  discriminating  between  those  who 
really  hold  forth  the  word  of  Hfe  and  those  who  preach 
another  Gospel  ?  Evidently  not.  The  readers  of  the 
Bible  are  too  notoriously  divided  in  sentiment  for  any 
such  idea  to  be  maintained.  The  very  epistle  from 
which  our  text  is  taken,  discloses  a  state  of  things 
utterly  disproving  it.  One  of  the  prophets  of  a  people 
"  whose  were  the  covenants  and  the  giving  of  the  law, 
and  the  service  of  God  and  the  promises,"  thus 
describes  their  condition :  "  We  wait  for  light,  but 
behold  obscurity;  for  brightness,  but  we  walk  in 
darkness.  We  grope  for  the  wall  like  the  bhnd,  and 
we  grope  as  if  we  had  no  eyes :  we  stumble  at  noon- 
day as  in  the  night;  we  are  in  desolate  places  as  dead 
men." 

Unconverted  fallen  nature  in  a  hearer,  presents  an 
insuperable  obstacle  to  his  using  the  word  of  God  as 
the  touchstone  of  the  ministry.     "  The  carnal  mind 


TESTS  AND  OFFICE  OF  A  VALID  MINISTRY. 1.        321 

discerneth  not  spiritual  things."  Hence  it  is,  that  the 
great  majority  of  Bible  readers,  under  a  ministry  so 
largely  unenlightened,  are  "like  children,  tossed  to  and 
fro,  and  carried  about  with  every  wind  of  doctrine, 
by  the  sleight  of  men  and  cunning  craftiness,  whereby 
they  lie  in  wait  to  deceive."  This  even  happens 
where,  with  all  that  honesty  which  is  consistent  with 
pride  and  impenitence  and  unbelief,  the  hearer  really 
does  search  the  Scriptures,  to  ascertain  whether  the 
things  which  have  been  brought  to  his  ears  are  so. 
But  who  knows  not,  that  in  this  Bible  land,  where 
God  has  so  abundantly  supplied  us  with  the  means  of 
testing  the  so-called  preaching  of  the  Gospel,  even 
such  insufficient  attempts  to  use  these  means,  and  to 
determine  whether  what  is  heard  be  the  mere  word  of 
man,  or  the  truth  of  God,  are  by  no  means  general  ? 
When  a  man  sets  out  to  choose  a  minister  for  himself 
and  family,  the  choice  is  very  frequently  determined 
by  the  delivery  of  the  preacher  in  the  pulpit,  or  the 
manners  of  the  pastor  in  the  social  circle,  or  by  the 
looks  of  the  church  building,  or  by  the  singing  of  the 
choir  and  the  sound  of  the  organ,  or  by  the  gentility 
of  the  congregation,  or  by  the  prospect  of  one's  being 
made  prominent  and  important,  or  by  some  doctrine 
being  taught  which  is  distasteful  to  the  hearer,  although 
it  confessedly  be  in  the  word  of  God.  Now,  why 
should  the  Scripture  be  blamed  for  the  divisions  and 
heresies  which  exist,  or  be  regarded  as  an  insufficient 
umpire  in  the  case,  when  the  use  for  which  it  was 
intended  is  either  wholly  neglected,  or  else  often 
attempted  by  those  who,  on  account  of  their  natural 
spiritual  bhndness,  are  utterly  disqualified  for  the 
21 


322        TESTS  AND  OFFICE  OF  A  VALID  MINISTRY. 1. 

effort  ?  Does  all  this  disprove  what  St.  Paul  teaches, 
that,  under  the  faithful  preaching  of  Christ's  Gospel, 
the  secrets  of  the  heart  of  the  unbeUever,  who  is  for 
the  first  time  convicted  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  or  of  the 
unlearned  believer  who  is  habitually  under  the  influ- 
ence of  the  Spirit,  are  made  manifest,  and  he  is 
authorized  to  testify  that  God  is  in  the  preacher  of  a 
truth  ? 

Oh!  brethren,  it  is  no  unauthorized  trial  of  the 
minister  of  Christ,  which  the  behoving  hearer  holds  in 
his  own  breast ;  it  is  no  unauthorized  sentence  which 
he  pronounces,  when  he  finds  him  faithful ;  when  he 
responds  "Amen"  to  what  has  been  said,  and  bids  the 
preacher  "  God  speed."  Such  a  preacher  and  such  a 
hearer  have  the  same  Gospel  of  Jesus  held  up  before 
the  eyes  of  each ;  and  both,  "  beholding  as  in  a  glass 
the  glory  of  the  Lord,  are  changed  into  the  same 
image  from  glory  to  glory,  even  as  by  the  Spirit  of 
the  Lord."  Such  fellowship  through  the  word  of  God, 
is  what  is  entitled  "  the  communion  of  saints ;"  it  is 
living  and  divine ;  it  is  a  quickening  and  nourishing 
of  the  inward  man;  it  is  an  assurance  of  our  calling 
and  election ;  it  is  an  earnest  of  our  heavenly  inherit- 
ance. Such  are  the  blessed  fruits  of  that  trial  which 
the  believing  hearer  is  required  to  hold  of  the  faithful 
steward  of  the  mysteries  of  God. 

The  way  in  which  a  valid  ministry  can  be  tested, 
we  have  thus  explained ;  but  the  consideration  of  the 
powers  of  such  a  ministry  must  be  reserved  for  another 
time. 

At  this  point,  however,  we  are  surely  authorized  to 
inquire  of  each  of  our  people,  If  you  endeavor,  in  this 


TESTS  AND  OFFICE  OF  A  VALID  MINISTRY. 1.        323 

manner,  to  find  out  whether  that  ste^vard  of  God's  mys- 
teries, under  whom  you  have  heen  placed,  he  faithfid  or 
not  ?  Vain  is  any  other  mode  of  trying  your  minister, 
than  that  which  has  been  explained  to-day.  If  you 
condemn  him,  unless  it  be  on  the  ground  of  your  find- 
ing him  essentially  unfaithful,  according  to  that  full 
and  understanding  interpretation  of  the  Scripture, 
which  those  Avho  are  taught  of  God  are  alone  enabled 
to  give — whatever  else  be  the  ground  of  your  con- 
demnation, he  is  enabled  to  treat  it  as  St.  Paul  did 
that  of  the  earthly-minded  Corinthians,  as  if  it  were 
a  very  small  thing;  he  can  appeal  with  confidence 
from  your  unjust  sentence,  to  the  judgment  of  the 
Lord.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  you  find  him  faithful, 
on  any  other  footing  than  the  harmony  which  your 
spiritual  insight  discovers  between  his  doctrine  and 
that  revealed  in  God's  word,  your  acquittal  will  not 
arrest  the  final  judgment  in  the  day  of  the  Lord; 
neither  will  the  trial  which  you  instituted  confer  any 
lasting  good  on  yourselves,  or  be  regarded  as  that 
which  you  were  required  to  hold. 

Oh !  beloved,  the  hearing  of  the  Gospel  is  no  irre- 
sponsible pastime.  The  ministry  are  a  savor  of  life 
unto  life  to  those  who  are  saved ;  and  of  death  unto 
death  to  those  who  perish.  When  you  are  placed 
within  the  hearing  of  the  Gospel,  unless  that  enlight- 
ened and  spiritual  trial  of  the  preacher,  which  you  are 
required  in  our  text  to  hold,  is  proceeding  in  your 
soul,  you  are  not  meeting  the  expectation  of  God, 
when  he  sent  to  you  the  messenger  of  his  grace ;  you 
are  throwing  contempt  upon  his  ordinance,  which  he 
has  appointed  for  the  salvation  of  men;  and  none  can 


324        TESTS  AND  OFFICE  OF  A  VALID  MINISTRY. 1. 

measure  the  hardening  and  condemning  effect  of  such 
a  course.  I  speak  as  unto  wise  men ;  judge  ye  what 
I  say.  Give,  then,  the  Lord  no  rest,  until  he  bestow 
on  you  the  blessed  qualification  of  finding  whether  his 
ministers  be  faithful. 

But,  beloved  Christian  brethren,  if  the  preaching 
of  the  cross  be  to  them  which  perish  foolishness,  unto 
you  which  have  been  called,  it  is  the  power  and  wis- 
dom of  God.  Although  you  know  that  the  work  of 
the  ministry  is  in  subordination  to  the  Scripture,  and 
even  to  your  own  illumination  by  the  word  and  Spirit 
of  our  God,  yet,  in  your  own  precious  experience,  you 
have  found  that  it  is  the  "gift"  of  Him  "who  ascended 
up  on  high"  "  for  the  perfecting  of  the  saints,  for  the 
edifying  of  the  body  of  Christ,  till  we  all  come  in  the 
unity  of  the  faith,  and  of  the  knowledge  of  the  Son  of 
God,  unto  a  perfect  man." 

Whatever  ridicule,  too,  may  be  thrown  upon  the 
seeming  presumption  of  your  bringing  the  highest 
dignitaries  of  the  church  to  your  own  private  bar,  and 
pronouncing  upon  the  validity  of  their  ministry,  you 
know  it  is  an  office  from  which  you  cannot  shrink ; 
since,  at  the  peril  of  your  souls,  it  is  imposed  on  you 
by  the  great  Head  of  the  Church.  Whatever  evils, 
too,  may  flow  from  a  perversion  of  this  duty,  or  from 
the  course  of  the  enthusiast  and  the  world  under  the 
shadow  of  its  name,  yet  you  do  not  fear,  that  in  the 
true  church,  universal  confusion  would  result  from  its 
right  exercise  by  the  disciples  of  Christ.  For  the 
form  and  principles  of  the  trial  of  ministers  by  their 
spiritual  hearers,  are  all  provided  for  in  the  statutes 


TESTS  AND  OFFICE  OF  A  VALID  MINISTRY. 1.        325 

of  an  infallible  book ;  and  they  are  applied,  in  each 
case,  by  an  infaUible  interpreter,  the  Holy  Ghost. 

With  humble  confidence,  therefore,  in  the  divine 
promise,  you  do  not  hesitate  to  undertake  and  dis- 
charge the  high  duties  of  judges  in  the  courts  of  God. 
How  blessed,  too,  is  the  exercise  of  this  trust,  when, 
under  the  teaching  of  the  word  and  Spirit  of  God,  you 
find  a  faithful  minister  of  Christ !  The  blessed  con- 
sciousness is  then  awakened  within  you,  that  you  are 
yourselves  the  epistle  of  Christ,  ministered  by  the 
preacher ;  written  not  with  ink,  but  with  the  Spirit  of 
the  living  God ;  not  in  tables  of  stone,  but  in  fleshly 
tables  of  the  heart.  The  earthen  vessels  before  you, 
which  contain  the  treasure  of  the  Gospel,  become 
radiant  in  your  eyes  with  the  glory  of  Christ ;  while, 
in  your  turn,  you  become  to  them,  by  the  witness  of 
your  renewed  spirits  and  lives,  the  proofs  and  seals  of 
their  ministry,  and  their  joy  and  crown  of  rejoicing  in 
the  Lord. 


324        TESTS  AND  OFFICE  OF  A  VALID  MINISTRY. 1. 

measure  the  hardening  and  condemning  effect  of  such 
a  course.  I  speak  as  unto  wise  men ;  judge  ye  what 
I  say.  Give,  then,  the  Lord  no  rest,  until  he  bestow 
on  you  the  blessed  quahfication  of  finding  whether  his 
ministers  be  faithful. 

But,  beloved  Christian  brethren,  if  the  preaching 
of  the  cross  be  to  them  which  perish  foolishness,  unto 
you  which  have  been  called,  it  is  the  power  and  wis- 
dom of  God.  Although  you  know  that  the  work  of 
the  ministry  is  in  subordination  to  the  Scripture,  and 
even  to  your  own  illumination  by  the  word  and  Spirit 
of  our  God,  yet,  in  your  own  precious  experience,  you 
have  found  that  it  is  the  "gift"  of  Him  "who  ascended 
up  on  high"  "  for  the  perfecting  of  the  saints,  for  the 
edifying  of  the  body  of  Christ,  till  we  all  come  in  the 
unity  of  the  faith,  and  of  the  knowledge  of  the  Son  of 
God,  unto  a  perfect  man." 

Whatever  ridicule,  too,  may  be  thrown  upon  the 
seeming  presumption  of  your  bringing  the  highest 
dignitaries  of  the  church  to  your  own  private  bar,  and 
pronouncing  upon  the  validity  of  their  ministry,  you 
know  it  is  an  office  from  which  you  cannot  shrink ; 
since,  at  the  peril  of  your  souls,  it  is  imposed  on  you 
by  the  great  Head  of  the  Church.  Whatever  evils, 
too,  may  flow  from  a  perversion  of  this  duty,  or  from 
the  course  of  the  enthusiast  and  the  world  under  the 
shadow  of  its  name,  yet  you  do  not  fear,  that  in  the 
true  church,  universal  confusion  would  result  from  its 
right  exercise  by  the  disciples  of  Christ.  For  the 
form  and  principles  of  the  trial  of  ministers  by  their 
spiritual  hearers,  are  all  provided  for  in  the  statutes 


TESTS  AND  OFFICE  OF  A  VALID  MINISTRY. 1.        325 

of  an  infallible  book ;  and  they  are  applied,  in  each 
case,  by  an  infallible  interpreter,  the  Holy  Ghost. 

With  humble  confidence,  therefore,  in  the  divine 
promise,  you  do  not  hesitate  to  undertake  and  dis- 
charge the  high  duties  of  judges  in  the  courts  of  God. 
How  blessed,  too,  is  the  exercise  of  this  trust,  when, 
under  the  teaching  of  the  word  and  Spirit  of  God,  you 
find  a  faithful  minister  of  Christ !  The  blessed  con- 
sciousness is  then  awakened  within  you,  that  you  are 
yourselves  the  epistle  of  Christ,  ministered  by  the 
preacher ;  written  not  with  ink,  but  with  the  Spirit  of 
the  living  God ;  not  in  tables  of  stone,  but  in  fleshly 
tables  of  the  heart.  The  earthen  vessels  before  you, 
which  contain  the  treasure  of  the  Gospel,  become 
radiant  in  your  eyes  with  the  glory  of  Christ ;  while, 
in  your  tm-n,  you  become  to  them,  by  the  witness  of 
your  renewed  spirits  and  lives,  the  proofs  and  seals  of 
their  ministry,  and  their  joy  and  crown  of  rejoicing  in 
the  Lord. 


SEEMON  XXII. 


THE  TESTS  AND  OFFICE  OF  A  VALID  MINISTRY.— XL 


1  Cor.  iv.  1,  2. 


"  Let  a  man  so  account  of  us,  as  of  the  ministers  of  Christ,  and 

STEWARDS  of  THE   MYSTERIES   OF  GoD.      MOREOVER,  IT  IS  REQUIRED 
IN  STEWARDS,  THAT  A  MAN  BE  FOUND  FAITHFUL." 

Our  previous  discourse  on  this  text,  pointed  out  the 
mark  by  which  a  valid  ministry  could  be  recognized. 
This  was  none  other  than  an  accordance  in  its  exercise 
with  every  essential  doctrine  of  the  Holy  Scriptures. 
The  office,  too,  of  applying  this  test,  was  assigned  to 
all  the  hearers  of  the  preached  word ;  although  it  was 
shown,  that  only  that  class  of  hearers  were  qualified 
for  this  task,  upon  whose  hearts  and  minds  the  divine 
laws  had  been  inscribed,  and  who  had  thus  themselves 
become  epistles  written  by  the  Spirit  of  the  hving 
God.  When,  however,  ministers  have  been  found 
faithful  in  this  scriptural  way,  the  question  immediately 
recurs,  with  even  more  force  than  it  could  originally 
have  suggested  itself,  What  is  the  trust  committed  to 
their  charge  ?  with  ivhat  poivers  are  they  clothed  ? 

This  is  the  subject  which  was  reserved  for  our 
present  consideration.  But  before  entering  directly 
upon  it,  there  is  a  point  which  it  would  seem  neces- 


328       TESTS  AND  OFFICE  OF  A  VALID  MINISTRY. II. 

saiy  to  adjust,  and  which,  when  fully  comprehended, 
will  serve  to  throw  much  light  upon  our  path.  It  is 
this :  If  the  province  of  the  ministry  is  limited  by 
Kevelation,  and  to  such  an  extent,  moreover,  that  all 
which  they  say  and  do  is  to  be  tested  by  God's  written 
word,  in  the  hands  of  its  enlightened  readers.  What 
room  was  there  left  in  the  house  of  God  for  such  an  order 
of  men  ?  What  were  they  to  do  which  had  not  already 
been  abundantly  provided  for  ?  Could  they  not  easily 
be  dispensed  with  by  aU  who  possess  the  Scriptures  ? 
And  in  a  community  where  the  Bible  is  generally  cir- 
culated, must  they  not  be  regarded  as  entirely  super- 
numerary ? 

Some,  indeed,  do  take  this  ground,  and  absent 
themselves  from  the  sanctuary,  and  withdraw  them- 
selves from  the  whole  circle  of  ministerial  influence. 
But  what  is  uniformly  the  result  in  such  cases  ?  We 
speak  not  now  of  those  who  are  avowedly  ungodly, 
and  who  despise  not  only  the  preached,  but  also  the 
written  word.  We  refer  to  those  who  profess  to  regard 
the  Scriptures  as  aU-sufficient,  and  who,  under  the 
pretext  of  finding  more  profit  in  closet  prayer,  and,  in 
the  private  reading  of  the  Bible,  neglect  the  public 
services  of  God's  house.  What  is  the  end  of  these 
separatists?  Uniformly  bad.  If  you  observe  such, 
you  will  find  that  they  soon  lose  the  proportion  of 
faith :  becoming  engrossed  with  some  idle  speculations, 
darkness  settles  upon  their  minds  and  hearts,  and  they 
are  at  last  thoroughly  secularized  in  their  spirits.  Nor 
should  we  be  surprised  at  these  fearful  results.  For 
whoever  thus  neglects  the  ministry  despiseth  not  man, 
but  an  undoubted  institution  of  God.     Ever  since  God 


TESTS  AND  OFFICE  OF  A  VALID  MINISTRY. II.        329 

founded  a  church  on  earth,  he  has  set  apart  a  oertam 
order  of  men  to  serve  him  in  it,  and,  as  his  officers, 
he  has  required  due  respect  to  be  paid  them. 

Under  the  Jewish  Dispensation,  it  was  a  divine 
statute  :  "  The  man  that  will  do  presumptuously,  and 
will  not  hearken  to  the  priest  that  standeth  to  minis- 
ter before  the  Lord,  even  that  man  shall  die."  And 
not  to  multiply  passages  of  similar  import,  Ave  find 
Daniel,  while  confessing  those  grievous  sins  of  his 
people  which  were  punished  by  the  heavy  calamity  of 
exile  and  captivity,  giving  j)rominence  to  this  :  "  We 
have  not  hearkened  to  thy  servants  the  prophets, 
which  spake  in  thy  name."  And  this  is  a  rule  b}'' 
which  each  of  the  followers  of  Jesus  Christ  is  bound  : 
"If  one  neglect  to  hear  the  church,  let  him  be  unto 
thee  as  a  heathen  man  and  a  publican." 

Now,  although  these  and  such  like  passages  have 
been  very  much  abused  and  perverted  by  the  advo- 
cates of  a  ministry  which  cannot  be  found  faithful, 
according  to  any  scriptural  standard ;  yet  they  surely 
have  a  most  stringent  meaning,  when  applied  to  those 
who  neglect  a  ministry  truly  appointed  and  owned  by 
the  Head  of  the  Church.  Whether,  then,  we  be  able 
or  not,  to  point  out  any  of  the  reasons  which  operated 
upon  the  divine  mind,  in  ordaining  a  set  of  teachers 
and  officers  over  his  people,  is  a  small  matter.  That 
God  has  actually  done  this,  is  sufficient  to  impose  upon 
us  the  obligation  of  using  the  ministry  in  an  humble 
and  docile  spirit,  looking  up  to  him  for  a  blessing  on 
his  own  institution.  The  fact  that  this  ministry  has 
been  appointed,  is  enough  to  bring  under  a  just  pun- 


330       TESTS  AND  OFFICE  OF  A  VALID  MINISTRY. II. 

ishment  all  who  despise  it,  or  who  employ  it  for  other 
ends  than  its  Divine  Founder  designed. 

Such  would  seem  to  be  the  view  which  the  Holy- 
Ghost  took  of  this  matter,  and  upon  which  he  has 
acted.  For  while  the  Scriptures,  which  were  written 
by  him,  are  full  and  explicit  in  relation  to  the  fact 
that  men  are  appointed  to  minister  in  his  church  by 
God,  and  in  relation  to  the  objects  which  they  are  to 
have  in  view ;  yet  they  are  almost,  if  not  altogether, 
silent  respecting  tlie  reasons  which  led  the  God  of  all 
grace  to  accomplish  these  objects  by  such  an  agency. 
It  is,  however,  clearly  intimated,  that  this  instru- 
mentality was  ttsed  by  God,  in  communicating  with 
his  people,  in  condescension  to  their  infirmities.  The 
tribes  were  not  able  to  endure  God's  immediate  mani- 
festation of  himself,  and  he  therefore  spoke  to  them 
through  Jiis  servant  Moses. 

As  it  was  necessary,  then,  for  creatures  to  be  em- 
ployed in  this  work,  the  experience  of  all  God's  people 
will  attest  how  much  better  it  was  for  men  than  angels 
to  be  set  apart  for  this  purpose.  The  sympathy  which 
exists  betw-een  those  who  feel  alike  and  who  are  saved 
alike,  imparts  a  tenderness  and  a  preciousness  to  all 
the  communications  which  we  receive  from  God, 
through  a  human  ministry — of  which  divine  messages 
that  should  be  borne  to  us  by  creatures  who  are  of 
another  nature,  and  who  were  never  placed  in  circum- 
stances like  ourselves,  would  be  wholly  destitute.  Let, 
then,  this  slight  intimation  of  Scripture,  and  the  uni- 
versal experience  of  the  saints,  suffice  to  convince  us 
of  the  wisdom  of  God's  having  appointed  an  order  of 
ministers  in  his  church ;  and  let  us  at  once  search  the 


TESTS  AND  OFFICE  OP  A  VALID  MINISTRY. II.       ')3l 

sacred  page  to  learn  the  benefits  which  he  actually 
confers  through  the  human  ministry  of  his  word. 

It  is  astonishing,  brethren,  with  what  dignity  God 
clothed  the  ancient  temple,  or  rather  the  service  which 
was  performed  there  by  his  appointed  ministry !  By 
what  exalted  and  expressive  terms  he  closely  con- 
nected with  it  his  own  infinite  majesty !  It  was  called 
"  the  sanduar?/  of  God."  We  are  told,  "  He  hath  de- 
sired it  for  his  habitation.  This  is  my  rest  for  ever ; 
here  will  I  dwell"  What  a  living  image  of  himself 
must  God  have  regarded  the  worship  of  the  temple, 
when,  in  urging  his  ancient  people  to  engage  in  it,  he 
exhorts  them  in  these  words :  "  Seek  ye  my  face.'' 
Nor  does  St.  Paul  allow  us  to  take  a  lower  view  of  the 
office  of  the  ministry,  under  the  Christian  dispensa- 
tion. For  he  hesitates  not  to  say  that  "  God,  who," 
in  the  beginning,  at  the  creation  of  the  world,  "  com- 
manded the  light  to  shine  out  of  darkness,"  ^'hath 
shined  in"  the  hearts  of  his  real  ministers,  which,  in 
their  native  state,  were  as  spiritually  dark  as  the  earth 
was  at  first  naturally  dark,  that  He  might  give  to 
others,  by  the  radiation  from  ministers'  hearts,  "  the 
light  of  the  knowledge  of  the  glory  of  God  in  the  face 
of  Jesus  Christ." 

But,  while  the  Scripture  thus  magnifies  the  place 
and  occupation  of  public  worship  on  earth,  it  would 
utterly  discountenance  any  superstitious  rest  in  such 
service;  it  would  remind  us,  that  there  is  a  higher 
temple,  for  which  worship  here,  in  its  best  estate,  only 
fits  us ;  it  would  lift  up  the  eyes  of  earthly  w^orship- 
pers  to  Him  who  sits  upon  the  throne  in  heaven,  by 
assuring  them  that  the  place  in  which  they  are  now 


332       TESTS  AND  OFFICE  OF  A  VALID  MINISTRY. II. 

oftering  sacrifices  and  incense  to  God,  is  but  his  "  foot- 
stool." This  it  ^oes,  when  it  urges  the  saints  to 
"  worship  at  God's  footstool ;"  and  when  the  Psalmist 
leads  the  people  into  the  temple  with  this  song:  "We 
will  go  into  his  tabernacles ;  we  will  worship  at  his 
footstool." 

Thus,  all  the  worship  which,  under  the  leading  of 
God's  human  ministers,  is  offered  here  on  earth,  we 
must  never  forget,  is  only  acceptable  when  it  is  re- 
garded by  us  as  ascending  to  heaven,  and  offered 
again  according  to  the  law  of  those  upper  courts,  put 
into  the  censer  of  Christ,  and  presented  before  the 
eternal  throne.  But,  even  under  this  quaUfied  con- 
ception of  the  appointed  ministerial  service  of  God, 
how  exalted  is  its  nature,  how  precious  are  its  results ! 

If  we  look  into  the  infallible  word  of  God,  we  shall 
find  each  and  every  part  of  the  change  which  is  re- 
quired to  be  wrought  in  fallen  souls,  ere  they  enter 
upon  the  inheritance  of  the  saints  in  light,  attributed 
to  the  ministers  of  Christ.  It  was ,  prophesied  to  his 
father,  of  the  great  forerunner  of  our  Lord,  before  his 
birth,  and  the  prediction  was  fully  accomplished  in  his 
subsequent  course,  "Many  of  the  children  of  Israel 
shall  he  turn  to  the  Lord  their  God." 

In  conferring,  too,  a  commission  upon  one  of  his 
ministers,  after  his  own  ascension,  our  Lord  expressly 
states  the  object  for  which  he  was  ordained,  in  these 
words  :  "  Unto  whom,  now,  I  send  thee,  to  open  their  ■ 
eyes,  and  to  turn  them  from  darkness  to  light,  and ' 
from  the  power  of  Satan  unto  God,  that  they  may  re- 
ceive forgiveness  of  sins,  and  inheritance  among  them 
which  are  sanctified  by  faith  that  is  in  me."     This 


TESTS  AND  OFFICE  OF  A  VALID  MINISTRY. II.       333 

same  apostle,  moreover,  tells  a  portion  of  that  numer- 
ous company  of  believers,  who,  through  his  ministry, 
had  become  the  children  of  God,  "  Ye  have  not  many 
fathers;  for,  in  Christ  Jesus,  I  have  begotten  you 
through  the  Gospel."  Again,  he  addresses  others  of 
them,  whose  apostacy  he  had  reason  to  fear :  "  My 
little  children,  of  whom  I  travail  in  birth  again  until 
Christ  be  formed  in  you." 

We  thus  see  what  a  close  connection  exists  between 
the  faithful  ministers  of  Christ  and  that  mighty  re- 
newal of  a  man's  nature,  without  which  no  child  of 
fallen  Adam  can  ever  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God. 
So  direct,  too,  is  the  agency  of  the  ministers  of  Christ 
in  the  great  majority  of  cases  in  which  souls  are  born 
again,  that  every  spiritual  mind  sees  the  justness  and 
force  of  all  that  is  here  ascribed  to  them  in  the  word  of 
God.  Indeed,  the  instances  of  such  changes,  where  the 
instrumentality  of  ministers  does  not  appear,  are  com- 
paratively rare ;  and  even  these  seem  to  be  allowed 
for  the  purpose  of  preventing  any  undue  honor  being 
paid  to  the  ministry,  by  showing  that  the  blessing  of 
salvation  can  be  conferred  without  them ;  and  that  it 
rests  with  a  sovereign  over  all,  to  decide  what  channels 
he  will  employ  to  convey  his  mercies  to  our  souls. 

When,  therefore,  the  Bible  itself,  or  some  pious,  but 
uninspired  book,  or  some  private  Christian  friend,  or 
some  sanctified  affliction  is  used  directly,  and  almost 
exclusively,  in  our  conversion,  it  is  only  to  hinder  the 
idolatry  of  the  appointed  means,  and  it  does  not  prove 
that  those  means  are  not  the  ordinary  channel  through 
which  the  blessing  is  bestowed. 

But  to  proceed :  Not  only  is  the  new  hirth,  but  like- 


334       TESTS  AND  OFFICE  OF  A  VALID  MINISTRY. H. 

wise  faiih^  by  which  we  become  connected  with  Christ, 
are  justified  at  God's  bar,  and  receive  the  promise  of 
salvation,  is  attributed  in  the  Scriptures  to  the  minis- 
ters of  Christ.  Our  Lord,  in  his  prayer  for  the  bless- 
ing of  his  Father  on  those  whom  he  was  about  to  send 
forth,  teaches  this  doctrine,  when  he  expresses  himself 
in  these  words  :  "  Neither  pray  I  for  these  alone,  but 
for  them  also  which  shall  believe  on  me  through  their 
word."  Two  of  his  ministers,  moreover,  we  are  told, 
upon  one  occasion,  "  so  spake  that  a  great  multitude, 
both  of  the  Jews  and  also  of  the  Greeks,  believed." 
These  questions,  too,  are  asked  by  an  apostle :  "  How 
shall  they  call  on  him  in  whom  they  have  not  be- 
lieved ?  and  how  shall  they  believe  in  him  of  whom 
they  have  not  heard  ?  and  how  shall  they  hear  with- 
out a  preacher  ?"  And  the  inference  Avhich  he  draws 
from  this  is,  "  So,  then,  faith  cometh  by  hearing." 

But  why  multiply  the  quotations  of  passages  which 
are  so  numerous  and  obvious  on  the  sacred  page?  It 
is  plain,  that  among  all  creature  means  for  implanting 
in  our  hearts  the  root  grace  of  faith,  the  Bible  assigns 
the  supreme  place  to  the  ministers  of  Christ's  word. 
We  might  proceed  to  enumerate  all  the  graces  which 
constitute  the  character  of  the  new  man;  and  we 
would,  in  like  manner,  find  that  they  are  traced  by 
an  inspired  pen  to  the  ministry,  as  their  great  visible 
source.  But  let  all  be  embraced  under  one  term;  for 
the  Bible  declares,  that  the  ministers  of  Christ  were 
ordained  for  the  purpose  of  hidldlng  iq)  and  edifying 
the  people  of  God.  This  institution,  we  are  expressly 
told,  was  designed  "for  the  perfecting  of  the  saints, 
for  the  work  of  the  ministry,  for  the  edifying  of  the 


TESTS  AND  OFFICE  OF  A  VALID  MINISTRY. II.       335 

body  of  Christ :  till  we  all  come  in  the  unity  of  the 
faith,  and  of  the  knowledge  of  the  Son  of  God,  unto  a 
perfect  man,  unto  the  measure  of  the  stature  of  the 
fullness  of  Christ."  Sioeaking,  too,  of  Christ,  St.  Paul 
says,  "Whom  we  preach,  warning  every  man,  and 
teaching  every  man  in  all  wisdom;  that  we  may  pre- 
sent every  man  perfect  in  Christ  Jesus."  "Night  and 
day,"  also,  the  same  apostle  declares  to  his  Thessalo- 
nians,  that  he  "prayed  exceedingly  to  see  their  face," 
that  he  "might  perfect  that  which  was  lacking  in  their 
faith." 

Such,  then,  is  the  important  sphere  assigned  to  the 
ministers  of  Christ  in  the  Church  of  God.  The  ques- 
tion before  us  is  not,  whether  the  great  Head  of  the 
Church  could  not  have  dispensed  with  their  service; 
neither  is  it,  whether  he  does  not  actually  carry  on 
his  work  of  saving  grace,  in  some  cases,  without  them. 
This  is  not  only  freely  admitted,  but  it  should  some- 
times be  insisted  on.  It  is  occasionally  necessary  to 
show,  that  even  undoubted  and  faithful  ministers  of 
Jehovah  are  utterly  powerless,  unless  they  are  accom- 
panied by  a  divine  grace,  which  always  exerts  its 
prerogative  of  sovereignty;  otherwise,  we  could  not 
disprove  the  preposterous  claims  which  are  frequently 
advanced  in  behalf  of  ministers  who  cannot  be  found 
faithful  by  any  Scriptural  test.  But  the  question 
which  we  are  now  required  to  answer  is.  For  what 
is  the  ministry  ordinarily  used  in  Christ's  Church. 
And  in  reply,  we  have  shown,  that  by  them,  conver- 
sion, faith,  and  even  perfection,  are  attained.  Nor 
can  these  high  claims  for  the  ministry  be  at  all  invali- 
dated,  by  reminding   us,   that   they  are   altogether 


336       TESTS  AND  OFFICE  OF  A  VALID  MINISTRY. II. 

subordinated  to  the  written  word  of  God;  that  their 
very  pretensions  to  speak  in  the  name  of  God  are  to 
be  tested  by  every  hearer  with  the  sacred  Scriptures ; 
and  that  it  is  their  duty  to  appeal  to  the  same  sacred 
page.  For  while  all  this  is  readily  acknowledged; 
nay,  while  we  would  still  further  contend,  that  the 
holy  Scriptures,  without  the  aid  of  the  ministry,  are 
able  to  make  us  wise  unto  salvation,  and  are  some- 
times used  in  this  way;  yet  God's  ordinary  mode  of 
enlightening  the  readers  of  the  Bible  is  to  send  to 
them  some  teacher — -just  as  he  directed  Philip  to  the 
Ethiopian  when  he  was  reading  Isaiah  in  his  chariot; 
or  as  Jesus  himself  joined  the  two  disciples,  who  were 
going  to  Emmaus,  and  talked  with  them  by  the  way, 
and  opened  to  them  the  Scriptures,  until  their  hearts 
burned  within  them.  And  it  is  not  too  much  to  say, 
that  unless  God's  grace  worked  in  a  much  greater 
proportion  by  other  means,  than  it  does  at  present, 
the  correct  and  saving  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures 
Avould  soon  be  lost,  if  the  Church  should  undertake  to 
dispense  with  the  ministers  of  Christ. 

Do  any  now  ask,  whether  we  hold,  that  the  powers 
Avhich  have  been  claimed  for  the  ministry,  are  inherent 
in  them,  inseparable  from  them,  so  that  they  exert 
these  powers  in  all  that  they  do  and  say;  or  can  at 
least  w^ithhold,  or  put  them  forth,  at  will?  To  this 
we  answer  emphatically.  No.  It  is  simply  and  ex- 
clusively the  accompanying  Spirit  of  God,  who  clothes 
their  work  with  power,  whenever  it  is  effectual.  All 
who  become  "the  sons  of  God,"  we  are  told,  "were 
born  not  of  blood,  nor  of  the  will  of  the  flesh,  nor  of 
the  will  of  man,  but  of  God :"  we  read,  moreover,,  that 


TESTS  AND  OFFICE  OF  A  VALID  MINISTRY. 11.       337 

'' Except  a  man  be  born  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  lie 
cannot  enter  the  kingdom  of  heaven."     How  often, 
too,  do  the  ministers  of  Christ  have  cause  to  ask,  with 
the  prophet,  "Who  hath  believed  our  report?"     The 
secret  of  their  occasional  success  is  revealed  in  this 
Scripture:  "The  hand  of  the  Lord  was  with  them; 
and  a  great  number  believed  and  turned  unto  the 
Lord."    The  believing  Hebrews  were  exhorted  to  look 
unto  Jesus  as  "the  author  and  finisher  of  faith;"  and 
the  Ephesian  Christians  were  taught,  that  "by  grace 
they  were  saved,  through  faith;  and  that  not  of  them- 
selves; it  was  the  gift  of  God."     And,  as  if  to  show 
the  mere  instrumentality  of  himself  and  his  colleagues, 
in  the  spiiitual  blessings  which  the  Corinthians  had 
received,  by  their  agency,  the  apostle  asks:    "Who 
then  is  Paul  ?  and  who  is  Apollos  ?  but  ministers  by 
whom  ye  beheved,  even  as  the  Lord  gave  to  every 
man?     I  have  planted,  ApoUos  watered;   but  God 
gave  the  increase."     So  that  from  the  beginning  to 
the  end,  all  success  is  to  be  attributed  to  the  Spirit  of 
God.     Neither  is  the  desire  which  the  ministers  of 
God  entertain  in  their  work  always  gratified;  but  as 
Lord  over  all,  the  Spirit  moves;  either  utterly  with- 
holding, or  else  "dividing  to  every  man  severally  as 
he  wiU." 

In  calling  your  attention,  moreover,  brethren,  to 
the  frequent  withholding  of  divine  influence  from  the 
ministry,  we  have  pointed  out  the  chief  cause  of  its 
want  of  success.  When  inquiries  are  made  on  this- 
subject,  some  refer  to  the  enmity  of  the  natural  heart 
to  God's  will  and  grace;  some  attribute  it  to  the  oppo- 
sition which  the  adversary  of  souls  exerts;  some  insist 
22 


338       TESTS  AND  OFFICE  OF  A  VALID  MINISTRY. II. 

upon  the  special  hindrances  which  the  word  encounters 
in  the  places  where  it  is  preached.  No  doubt,  all  of 
these  are  important  obstacles  in  the  way  of  ministerial 
success.  But  the  main  cause  will  be  found  in  the  lack 
of  the  presence  and  work  of  the  Spirit  of  God.  When 
he  chooses,  he  uses  the  preached  word  of  God  as  his  own 
sword,  before  which  every  enemy  is  discomfited;  when 
he  works  with  them,  "the  weapons  of  a  minister's 
warfare  are  not  carnal,  but  mighty  through  God  to 
the  pulling  down  of  strong  holds ;  casting  down  ima- 
ginations, and  every  high  thing  which  exalts  itself 
against  the  knowledge  of  God,  and  bringing  into  cap- 
tivity every  thought  to  the  obedience  of  Christ." 
Nor  let  it  be  hastily  concluded,  because  the  work  of 
the  ministry  does  not  always  convert,  that  therefore 
it  has  failed  of  its  end:  for  the  promise  reads,  "Lo,  I 
am  with  you  always,  even  to  the  end  of  the  world;" 
and  again  we  are  told,  "My  word  shall  not  return 
unto  me  void."  So  that  we  would  fully  adopt  these 
sentiments  of  another,  "Where  the  ministry  fails  to 
convert,  we  may  still  be  assured,  that  it  convinces, 
reproves,  exhorts,  enlightens,  or  consoles,  some  one  in 
some  measure,  at  all  times.  It  never  "returns  to  God 
void,"  when  delivered  in  the  simplicity  of  faith;  nor 
will  it,  under  the  most  unpromising  circumstances, 
fail  of  accomplishing  his  unchangeable  purpose. 

We  trust  now  it  fully  appears,  that,  notwithstanding 
the  blessed  gift  of  the  holy  Scriptures,  there  was  room 
left  in  the  Church  of  God  for  the  ministers  of  Christ; 
and  that  the  benefits  which  are  conferred  through 
them  are  by  no  means  small. 

But  now  the   question   recurs,  with  much  force, 


TESTS  AND  OFFICE  OF  A  VALID  MINISTRY. II.       339 

What  is  the  office  of  Christ's  ministers?  With  what 
powers  are  they  clothed  ?  In  what  light  are  they  to 
he  viewed?  To  this  our  text  now  almost  of  itself, 
without  explanation,  satisfactorily  replies  :  "  Let  a 
man  so  account  of  us,  as  of  the  ministers  of  Christ, 
and  stewards  of  the  mysteries  of  God."  First,  then, 
we  are  to  be  esteemed  as  the  ministers  of  Christ.  In 
all  that  w^e  undertake  and  say  in  our  office,  we  are  to 
be  ministers,  i.  e.,  servants  of  Christ;  feeling  that  we 
are  bound  to  obey  his  will,  and  actually  carrying  out 
his  directions :  never  venturing  to  teach  any  doctrines 
or  to  devise  and  pursue  any  plans,  which  originate 
with  ourselves,  or  which  are  intended  to  subserve  our 
private  ends;  as  though  we  were  "lords  over  God's 
heritage ;"  never  shunning  to  declare  the  whole  counsel 
of  God,  or  consulting  with  flesh  and  blood  what  we 
shall  withhold  and  what  dispense;  but  in  all  these 
things  we  are  to  be  servants — servants,  however,  in  a 
different  capacity  from  those  members  of  the  Church 
who  are  not  called  to  the  office  of  ministers;  servants 
in  the  discharge  of  the  duties  of  this  office,  as  those 
duties  are  laid  down  in  God's  written  word :  servants, 
in  one  aspect  of  the  case,  of  the  humblest  kind;  the 
servants  of  servants;  the  servants  of  the  other  serv- 
ants of  God's  house :  "  If  any  man  will  be  great  among 
you,"  said  our  Lord,  "let  him  be  your  minister,"  i.  e., 
servant;  and  again,  St.  Paul  describes  himself  and  his 
feUow-apostles  as  the  "servants"  of  other  believers 
"for  Jesus'  sake."  It  is  honor  enough  to  be  recog- 
nized as  the  servants  of  Jesus,  in  the  capacity  of 
ministers,  even  though  he  may  assign  us,  in  this  ca- 
pacity, to  the  work  of  serving  others.     It  is  greater 


340       TESTS  AND  OFFICE  OF  A  VALID  MINISTRY. II. 

honor  to  be  the  real  servants  of  Christ  in  the  minis- 
terial office,  than  it  is  to  be  compassed  about  with  any 
fire  and  sparks  which  we  may  kindle.  They  who 
Scripturally  occupy  this  post  shine  with  the  reflected 
light  of  God;  they  are  the  visible  "glory  of  Christ." 
Yea,  every  true  minister  of  Christ  has  cause  with  the 
apostle,  to  "magnify  his  office." 

But  what,  in  the  second  place,  is  committed  to  their 
charge,  as  "the  ministers  of  Christ?"  We  read  in 
our  text,  they  are  "  stewards  of  the  mysteries  of  God." 
Oh!  noble  and  precious  trust!  to  have  in  keeping 
"  the  mysteries  of  God !"  Nothing  which  the  astrono- 
mer can  spy  with  his  telescope  in  the  heavens  above; 
nothing  which  the  geologist  can  dig  out  of  the  bowels 
of  the  earth;  nothing  which  can  be  discovered  by 
chemical  analysis;  nothing  which  the  microscope  can 
bring  to  light  in  the  invisible  w^orld;  nothing  in  the 
wide  kingdom  of  universal  nature;  no  law  of  states; 
no  reasoning  of  morahsts;  no  conclusion  of  philoso- 
phers;  no  creature  wisdom,  is  entitled  to,  or  receives 
in  the  sacred  Scriptures,  the  name  of  a  "  mystery  of 
God :"  but  we  are  told,  that  "  the  preaching  of  Jesus 
Christ  is  the  revelation  of  the  mystery,  which  was 
kept  secret  since  the  world  began."  Yea,  all  the 
divine  wisdom,  as  brought  out  in  the  eternal  counsel 
of  the  three  Persons  of  the  Godhead,  is  concentred 
in  the  plan  of  redeeming  souls  by  Jesus  Christ.  And 
such  an  understanding  of  this  great  mystery  of  God, 
as  is  necessary  to  explain  it  to  others,  is  officially 
vouchsafed  to  the  ministers  of  Christ.  When  the 
multitude,  to  whom  our  Saviour  had  been  uttering  his 
incomprehensible  parables,  had  rethed;  and  the  apos- 


TESTS  AND  OFFICE  OF  A  VALID  MINISTRY. II.       341 

ties  gathered  around  him  with  the  request  that  he 
would  explain,  he  cheerfully  complied — saying,  "  Unto 
you  it  is  given  to  know  the  mysteries  of  the  kingdom 
of  God."  And  oh!  what  needed  help  does  every 
faithful  minister  of  Christ  experience,  in  God's  own 
times  and  ways,  while  preparing  for,  and  discharging 
his  work !  The  poor  is  made  rich ;  the  foolish  wise ; 
the  weak  strong.  Ready  to  acknowledge  in  the  un- 
feigned anguish  of  experience,  that  he  "is  unable  of 
himself  to  think  anything  as  of  himself;"  ready  to 
cry  out,  in  view  of  the  pressing  responsibilities  of  his 
work,  "  Who  is  sufficient  for  these  things  ?"  he  yet  is 
possessed  with  energy  from  above,  and  issues  from  his 
closet,  with  the  conviction,  that  his  "sufficiency  is  of 
God."  What  he  has  been  shown  in  secret,  that 
according  to  direction  of  him  whose  minister  he  is,  he 
reveals  upon  the  housetop.  He  keeps  not  "the  mys- 
teries of  God,"  which  have  been  committed  to  his 
charge  locked  up  for  his  own  exclusive  use;  but,  like 
a  faithful  steward,  he  freely  disburses  them  among  his 
master's  servants;  that  all  may  be  partakers  with 
himself  And,  when  the  steward,  and  each  of  his 
fellow-servants,  by  the  present  help  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
appropriates  to  himself  his  own  share,  what  communion 
is  here!  whether  it  be  in  prayer,  or  preaching,  and 
hearing,  or  administering  and  receiving  the  sacraments 
of  Christ — whatever  be  the  mystery  revealed,  "the 
fellowship  of  all  is  with  the  Father  and  with  his  Son 
Jesus  Christ!"  Nor,  if  it  be  an  optional,  is  it  ever  an 
irresponsible  matter,  whether  we  hear,  or  whether  we 
forbear.  All  is  done  in  the  name  of  Christ,  and  by 
the  authority  of  God;  it  is,  to  all  who  are  brought 


342       TESTS  AND  OFFICE  OF  A  VALID  MINISTRY. II. 

within  its  influence,  the  turning  point  of  salvation  or 
perdition;  and  while  in  the  faithful  discharge  of  their 
stewardship,  ministers  are  "unto  God  a  sweet  savor 
of  Christ  in  them  that  are  saved,  and  in  them  that 
perish:  to  the  one  we  are  the  savor  of  death  unto 
death ;  and  to  the  other  the  savor  of  life  unto  hfe." 

And  now,  in  the  brief  application  of  our  subject, 
we  ask,  have  you,  my  hearers,  in  your  hearts,  and 
practically,  "so  accounted  of  ns,  as  of  the  ministers 
of  Christ,  and  stewards  of  the  mysteries  of  God?" 
What  spiritual  blessing,  my  unconverted  friend,  has 
the  gracious  institution  of  the  ministry  ever  conferred 
upon  your  soul  ?  All  the  guilt  of  your  original  and 
actual  sins  still  rests  upon  your  conscience:  all  the 
darkness  of  nature  still  reigns  in  your  spiritual  house : 
corruption  and  lust  still  have  dominion  within :  your 
heart  is  unchanged;  you  have  none  of  that  faith, 
without  which  it  is  impossible  to  please  God;  you  are 
without  any  part  or  lot  in  Christ;  without  hope  and 
without  God  in  the  world ;  you  are  unfitted  to  serve 
and  enjoy  God  in  this  imperfect  state,  much  less  are 
you  qualified  for  it  in  heaven.  You  have  made  choice 
of  my  ministry,  and  have  frequently  come  within  its 
influence.  As  yet  you  have  received  no  real  and 
lasting  benefit  through  it.  If  not  blessed,  fearful  will 
be  the  connection  which  exists  between  us.  If  not 
set  for  your  rising,  I  am  for  your  falling.  If  you  be 
not  my  joy  in  the  judgment;  my  ministry  will  be  your 
accuser  and  condemner.  Oh !  pervert  not  the  gracious 
connection  which  now  subsists  between  us,  and  which 
might  be  so  blessed,  into  an  eternal  curse.  Would 
that  it  might  be  effectually,  and  to  your  salvation, 


TESTS  AND  OFFICE  OF  A  VALID  MINISTRY. II.        343 

that  we  call  upon  you  now  to  "behold  the  Lamb  of 
God,  who  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world."  We 
make  known  to  you  the  mystery,  that  "God  is  in 
Christ,  reconcihng  the  world  unto  himself,  not  imput- 
ing their  trespasses  unto  them;"  and  that  he  "hath 
committed  unto  us  the  word  of  reconciliation.  Now 
then  we  are  ambassadors  for  Christ,  as  though  God 
did  beseech  you  by  us :  we  pray  you  in  Christ's  stead, 
be  ye  reconciled  to  God." 

May  I  not,  also  implore  you.  Christian  brethren,  to 
combine  with  me  in  making  fuller  proof  of  my  minis- 
try? Oh!  appreciate  more  those  precious  blessings, 
which  God  designed  to  convey  to  you  through  this 
channel  of  his  grace.  Mourn  over  the  meagre  share 
of  them  which  reaches  you.  Pray  for  me,  that  I  may 
impart  to  you  some  spiritual  gift.  Glorify  the  Holy 
Ghost  by  feeling  the  necessity  of  his  presence  in  the 
work  of  the  ministry,  and  by  supplicating  constantly 
for  his  sovereign  help.  Thus  the  word  of  God  will 
have  freer  course,  and  be  more  glorified  among  us. 
My  speech  and  my  preaching  will  be  in  demonstration 
of  the  Spirit  and  of  power;  and  my  Gospel  will  come 
to  you,  not  in  word  only,  but  also  in  power,  and  in  the 
Holy  Ghost,  and  in  much  assurance.     Amen. 


SEEMON  XXIII. 


THE  FULLNESS  AND  THE  FREENESS  OF  CHRIST. 


Isaiah  Iv,  1. 


"Ho,  EVERY  ONE  THAT  THIRSTETH,  COME  YE  TO  THE  TYATERS,  AND  HE 
THAT  HATH  NO  MONEY;  COME  YE,  BUY  AND  EAT;  YEA,  COME,  BUY 
WINE  AND  MILK  WITHOUT  MONEY  AND  WITHOUT  PRICE." 

This  earnest  invitation  will  sound  very  differently 
in  different  ears.  There  are  some,  who  are  prepared 
to  welcome  it  as  the  most  cheering  news.  These  are 
ready  to  confess  with  the  psalmist:  "As  the  hart 
panteth  after  the  water  brooks,  so  panteth  my  soul 
after  thee,  0,  God :  my  soul  thirsteth  for  God,  yea, 
even  for  the  living  God."  When  they  hear,  as  in  the 
verse  before  us,  the  riches  of  what  the  Gospel  has  to 
offer  extolled — when  they  learn,  as  our  text  teaches, 
that  the  most  unworthy  and  destitute  are  allowed  an 
unrestricted  participation — then,  their  past  enjoyment 
of  this  spiritual  feast  renews  an  inward  desire  to  accept 
the  call,  and  a  present  hungering  and  thirsting  prompt 
them  to  hasten  toward  the  table  which  the  Lord  has 
spread. 

But  there  are  others,  to  whom  this  confession  of  the 
psalmist,  which  every  Christian  adopts  as  his  own, 
appears  at  least  mysterious,  and  perhaps  even  foolish. 
They  are   disposed   to  inquu-e — "How   can  a   soul 


346   THE  FULLNESS  AND  THE  FREENESS  OF  CHRIST. 

thirst?"  or  even  if  this  figurative  expression  be 
allowed— "  How  absurd  is  it  for  a  creature  spirit  to 
profess  a  thif^st  for  a  Spirit  that  created  it !"  will  then 
be  their  exclamation.  "In  what  way,"  they  trium- 
phantly ask,  "  could  such  an  unnatural  thirst  ever  be 
gratified?"  "VVe  might  somewhat  alter  our  Saviour's 
interrogatory  to  Nicodemus,  and  ask  each  of  these 
querists:  "Wast  thou  born,  and  hast  thou  been  bred 
in  a  Christian  land,  and  knowest  not  these  things?" 
But  we  will  not  affect  surprise,  where  none  is  felt. 
We  would  simply  turn  off  your  attention  from  things 
which  will  not  profit,  from  inquiries  which  in  your 
present  state  you  will  never  be  able  to  answer,  and 
direct  it  to  points  at  which  a  seeker  for  spiritual  truth 
should  begin,  and  from  which  he  may  be  gradually  led 
along  easily  and  gladly  over  more  advanced  stages  of 
his  pilgrimage — where  an  attempt  to  walk  now,  would 
only  bewilder  and  destroy. 

The  school  of  Christ  may  be  characterized,  by  way 
of  eminence,  as  one  that  is  experimental.  "  Whosoever 
doeth  his  will,  shall  know  of  the  doctrine  whether  it 
be  of  God."  In  learning  the  language  of  Zion,  you 
must  not  expect  to  speak  fluently  yourself — nor  even 
to  understand  the  conversation  of  the  more  advanced 
scholars,  before  you  have  been  taught  the  alphabet — 
before  those  who  speak  it  as  their  native  tongue  are 
able  to  discern  in  your  accents  even  the  lispings  of  a 
babe  in  Christ,  before  you  have  been  indeed  born  into 
the  kingdom  of  God.  Be  not  on  the  one  hand  dis- 
couraged, because  you  are  a  barbarian  to  the  Christian, 
and  the  Christian  a  barbarian  to  you.  He  was  born 
in  your  native  land;  and  through  the  same  assistance 


THE  FULLNESS  AND  THE  FREENESS  OF  CHRIST.       347 

which  he  has  received,  you  may  attain  to  the  same 
understanding  as  he.  Be  not,  on  the  other  hand, 
proud  and  contemptuous.  Deem  not  the  preacher, 
whom  God  has  appointed  to  cry  to  you  in  the  text,  a 
mad  man,  because  he  speaks  in  terms  which  you  are 
not  qualified  at  present  fully  to  comprehend,  or  to 
explain  in  consistence  with  the  soundness  of  his  judg- 
ment. Divest  yourself  now  of  pride.  ^'  Be  converted, 
and  become  like  a  little  child."  If  you  will  enter 
upon  its  brief  consideration  in  this  mood,  there  may 
be  that  found  in  our  text  which  will  prove  of  infinite 
moment  to  your  soul.  At  present  you  may  not  under- 
stand the  full  import  of  some  of  the  terms  through 
which  God  addresses  you  in  the  words  before  us,  and 
you  may  thus  unwittingly  exclude  yourself  from  bless- 
ings which  can  be  neither  measured  nor  exhausted. 

Let  us  now  look  at  our  text.  It  is  easy,  of  course, 
for  every  one  to  perceive,  that  here  under  the  figure 
of  thirst,  all  who  have  an  earnest  desire  for  the  thing 
which  is  proffered,  are  addressed.  Under  the  term  of 
waters,  that  which  will  refresh  and  satisfy  is  meant. 
As  the  living  and  cool  streams  of  a  rocky  fountain 
revive  the  weary  and  thirsty  traveller,  so  what  the 
Spirit  offers  in  our  text  will  gratify  the  desires  of 
the  needy,  and  cheer  the  hearts  of  the  desponding 
whom  he  addresses.  But  water,  though  refreshing 
to  the  weary,  is  scarcely  an  emblem  of  luxury  and 
wealth.  The  table  of  the  rich  is  covered  with  more 
sumptuous  fare.  By  tvine  and  milk,  therefore,  the 
Holy  Ghost  would  signify  those  higher  and  more  pre- 
cious blessings  which  he  would  fain  confer  upon  those 
souls  whom  in  our  text,  he  calls. 


348   THE  FULLNESS  AND  THE  FREENESS  OF  CHRIST. 

Need  we  further  say,  that  the  Spirit's  express 
exclusion  of  money  in  the  purchase,  or  of  'price  in  the 
sale  of  his  benefits,  was  intended  to  represent  the 
absolute  freeness  with  which  he  bestows  his  inestima- 
ble gifts?  With  this  brief  reference  to  what  is  of 
of  itself  obvious,  we  come  to  the  explanation  of  three 
points  in  our  text,  which,  perhaps,  now  stand  in  the 
way  of  some  of  our  hearers'  closing  with  the  offer 
which  it  makes. 

First,  some  may  suppose  that  they  have  no  such  de- 
sire fo?-  Gospel  blessings,  as  is  fairly  entitled  to  the  name 
of  thirst. 

Secondly,  there  may  be  others  who  have  such  a  lotv 
appreciation  of  the  riches  of  Christ,  as  to  conceive  that 
they  cannot  justly  claim  the  right  of  heing  represented  hy 
such  emhlems  as  water,  milk,  and  tvine. 

And,  thirdly,  there  may  be  others  who  do  not  clearly 
perceive  the  freedom  of  the  terms  upon  tvhich  they  can 
enter  on  those  spiritual  benefits  tvhich  they  achioiuledge 
to  be  rich,  and  for  tvhich  they  have  the  most  irrepressible 
desire. 

First,  then.  Whom  does  the  Holy  Ghost  include  in  the 
invitation  before  us  ?  We  read,  "  every  one  that  thirst- 
eth."  Here,  some  may  unnecessarily  shut  themselves 
out  from  great  blessings,  by  a  misapprehension  of  what 
is  meant.  They  may  say,  "  So  far  from  desiring  to 
depart  and  to  be  with  Christ,  as  though  that  were  far 
better,  we  must  honestly  acknowledge  that  the  thought 
of  meeting  his  eye,  as  we  shall  stand  before  his  judg- 
ment-seat, is  full  of  terror  to  our  souls.  We  can  easily 
understand  the  prayer  of  Peter:  ^Depart  from  me,  0 
Lord,  for  I  am  a  sinful  man.'     Should  the  Son  of  God 


THE  FULLNESS  AND  THE  FREENESS  OF  CHRIST.        349 

manifest  himself  now  unto  us,  we  would  desire  to  be 
relieved  from  his  presence.  If  the  assurance  that  we 
should  never  meet  him,  could  be  given  us,  we  would 
be  delivered  from  the  prospect  which  we  most  fear. 
How,  then,  can  we  be  considered  as  one  who  thirsteth 
for  God  ?"  But,  although  unable  to  adopt  this  language 
now,  or  even  to  comprehend  its  exact  meaning,  woidd 
not  a  great  difficulty  be  removed  out  of  your  way,  in 
using  these  words  as  expressive  of  the  feehng  of  your 
heart ;  if  God,  by  his  grace  and  power,  should  divest 
you  of  all  fear ;  if,  as  he  should  disclose  himself  to 
your  view,  when,  like  Daniel,  your  loins  trembled  and 
your  knees  shook,  he  should  put  forth  his  hand,  and, 
by  its  touch,  strengthen  you,  and  enable  you  to  com- 
mune with  him  face  to  face,  without  fear  ?  Have  you 
no  natural  curiosity  and  longing  to  see  your  Maker 
and  Preserver — so  infinite,  and  upon  whom  you  de- 
pend for  all  things  ?  Would  you  not  consider  yourself 
as  then  in  the  presence  of  One,  whose  favor  and  love 
being  secured,  he  could  confer  on  you  all  that  you 
wish  and  all  that  you  need,  make  you  all  that  you 
ought  to  be,  and  grant  you  all  that  your  greater 
knowledge  would  prompt  you  to  seek,  and  all  that 
your  enlarged  capacities  would  require  ?  Do  you  not 
thus  thirst  after  what  God  could  do  in  your  behalf? 
And,  although  not  able  now  to  say  that  you  thirst 
after  God,  yet  do  you  not  feel  a  desire  for  what  God 
could  bestow  on  your  soul?  Do  you  hesitate  to  admit 
even  thus  much  in  your  own  favor?  As  you  look 
upon  the  professed  people  of  Christ  in  this  world, 
would  you  shrink  from  being  made  altogether  like  one 
of  them  ?     While  there  may  be  ground  on  which  you 


350       THE  FULLNESS  AND  THE  FREENESS  OF  CHRIST. 

and  some  of  them  in  common  stand — while  there  may 
be  points  of  sympathy  between  you  and  Christian 
men,  yet  have  you  seen  enough  of  the  believer's 
character  to  know,  that  on  the  subject  which  most 
engrosses  his  thoughts,  and  most  enlists  his  heart, 
there  is  an  impassable  gulf  between  you  and  him  ? 
Would  you  decline  exchanging  even  your  own  uncer- 
tain, fleeting,  and  unsatisfying  enjoyments  for  such  as 
his  ?  Do  you  suppose  that  the  mine  in  which  he  digs 
has  no  treasure,  while  in  that  which  you  explore  there 
is  some  gold,  though  it  be  mingled  with  much  alloy  ? 

But  your  view  of  the  case  is  short-coming.  All 
that  God  has  done  for  those  souls  is  not  visible  to  the 
outward  eye.  Such  pleasures  as  they  can  recount  to 
your  carnal  ear,  may  have  no  attraction  for  your  natu- 
ral heart.  But  God  hath  changed  their  heart,  and 
caused  them  to  love  that  which  they  once  hated,  and 
to  hate  that  which  they  once  loved.  They  have  an 
inward  joy  with  which  a  stranger  intermeddleth  not. 
They  have  been  transformed  into  the  image  of  God, 
and  in  their  exalted  powers  and  affections,  reach  and 
experience  joys  which  other  eyes  cannot  see,  and 
other  ears  cannot  hear,  and  other  hearts  cannot  under- 
stand. 

Suspect  not  that  the  disappointments  and  sorrows 
and  wants  of  your  fallen  nature  would  not  be  removed, 
if  you  should  be  born  again ;  if  God  should  inwardly 
fit  you  for  the  enjoyment  of  all  that  he  could  bestow. 
You  may  be  consciously  in  need  of  W'hat  God  only 
can  confer ;  you  may  be  in  want  of  what  the  state 
and  possessions  of  the  Christian  alone  can  supply, 
although,  in  your  natural  ignorance  and  pride,  you 


THE  FULLNESS  AND  THE  FREENESS  OF  CHRIST.       351 

would  regard  it  as  the  virtual  suicide  of  your  soul,  to 
request  the  presence  of  God,  and  the  attainment  of 
what  the  Christian  is  and  has.  Oh !  beloved,  you  may 
he  addressed  in  the  text,  although  you  would  not  dare 
to  say  that  you  thirsted  for  God,  nor  yet  that  you  de- 
sired to  be  such  as  we.  That  indefinite  thing  for  which 
we  are  persuaded  that  you  long — although  you  would 
describe  it  in  very  different  terms,  and  seek  for  it  in 
a  very  different  way — among  all  things,  God  only  can 
confer,  and,  among  all  men.  Christians  only  have  at- 
tained. 

We  ask  not,  then,  whether  you  consciously  thirst 
after  God  ?  whether,  in  all  that  you  know  or  suspect 
of  its  length  and  breadth,  you  are  prepared  to  become 
a  Christian  man?  But  do  you  thirst  for  something 
which  as  yet  you  have  not  found?  Have  you  been 
disaj^pointed  in  your  past  course,  and  in  the  objects 
you  have  hitherto  pursued  ?  Would  your  past  expe- 
rience make  you  hesitate,  if,  like  Solomon,  you  had 
the  choice  of  whatever  you  should  ask,  before  you 
named  the  bestowment  or  the  increase  of  any  earthly 
good  ?  Do  you  doubt  whether  a  man's  life  does  con- 
sist in  the  abundance  of  the  goods  which  he  possesseth? 
Are  you  ready  to  confess  that  thus  far,  in  the  words 
of  the  verse  succeeding  our  text,  "you  have  spent 
your  money  for  that  which  satisfieth  not  ?"  if  you  be 
not  numbered  among  the  abandoned  and  the  reckless, 
— among  those  of  the  unconverted  who  only  long  for 
more  of  what  they  have  already  had;  who,  in  the 
expressive  language  of  Scripture,  "have  eyes  full  of 
adultery,  and  that  cannot  cease  from  sin,"  then  you 
are  one  of  those  thirsty  souls  to  whom  the  Spirit  calls 


352        THE  FULLNESS  AND  THE  FREENESS  OF  CHRIST. 

in  our  text,  and  whom  he  assures,  that  if  you  will 
hearken  diligently  unto  him,  you  will  eat  that  which 
is  good,  and  your  soul  shall  delight  itself  in  fatness : 
"  Come  ye  to  the  waters ;  yea,  come,  buy  wine  and 
millc." 

We  are  thus  led  to  the  consideration  of  our  second 
point;  which  is,  that  the  p'ovisions  of  CJmsfs  g7'ace 
are,  as  is  clearly  intimated  in  the  text,  ampli/  sufficient 
for  every  want  and  desire  of  our  souls.  In  our  spuitual 
experience,  they  will  indeed  prove  to  be  "water,  milk, 
and  Avine."  Each  of  these  terms  is  used  by  Moses, 
when  he  would  raise  the  promised  Canaan  in  the  esti- 
mation of  the  people  whom  he  led.  He  describes  it 
as  "  a  land  of  brooks  of  waters,"  as  one  flowing  with 
"  milk  and  honey ;"  and  he  speaks  of  "  the  wine  and 
the  oil"  which  they  should  enjoy  in  profusion  there. 
These  terms,  then,  aptly  figure  the  resources  and 
fruits  of  that  spiritual  Canaan  to  which  you  are  in- 
■\dted  in  our  text:  "Ho,  every  one  that  thirsteth,  come 
ye  to  the  waters." 

In  every  one  of  our  unconverted  hearers,  then,  now 
addressed,  we  have  a  right  to  suppose  that  a  convic- 
tion of  the  vanity  and  unsatisfyingness  of  earthly 
things  exists.  You  may  not  be  ready  as  yet  to  admit 
that  you  will  find  in  the  provisions  of  the  Gospel  what 
you  need.  Still,  you  turn  away  from  the  world,  and 
inquire,  "Who  will  show  us  any  good?" 

We  desire,  now,  to  lead  you  on  a  step,  and  to  point 
out  what  the  necessity  is  in  your  case.  However 
Uttle  you  may  hitherto  have  suspected  the  nature 
either  of  your  wants  or  of  the  remedy  required,  we 
would  yet  confidently  appeal  to  your  present  convic- 


THE  FULLNESS  AND  THE  FREENESS  OF  CHRIST.       353 

tions,  and  ask,  If  an  assurance  of  present  and  unend- 
ing peace  with  God,  would  not  remove  something  that 
is  always  uncomfortable,  and  sometimes  oppressive 
to  your  spirit?  If,  instead  of  "being  afraid  when 
you  consider,"  you  should,  hke  "Abraham,  the  friend 
of  God,"  be  addressed  by  the  great  Object  of  your 
terror  in  these  consoling  words,  "I  am  thy  shield  and 
thy  exceeding  great  reward,"  would  you  not  at  once 
be  translated  into  a  state  of  freedom  from  present 
bondage,  into  a  world  of  new  joys  and  hopes? 

Now,  the  Gospel  which  we  preach  proposes  to  intro- 
duce you  to  this  state.  What  now  separates  between 
you  and  your  God,  and  proves  a  bar  to  such  blessed 
communion  between  your  spirit  and  his,  as  we  have  re- 
ferred to,  is  your  sins.  There  is  enough  in  these  to  raise 
an  insurmountable  and  eternal  obstacle  between  the 
holy  God  and  you.  The  more  you  reflect  upon  their  iU- 
desert,  the  more  insupportable  wiU  be  your  fears.  As 
an  heavy  burden,  they  will  prove  too  heavy  for  you. 
Like  a  weary  and  fainting  traveller,  you  will  be  ready 
to  sink  under  theii*  oppressive  weight.  It  is  precisely 
in  this  dry  and  thirsty  land,  where  no  water  is,  that 
the  Gospel  pool  is  found.  It  discloses  a  fountain 
for  sin  and  for  uncleanness.  "  The  blood  of  Jesus 
Christ  cleanseth  us  from  aU  sin."  It  was  shed  to  pay 
the  penalty  of  all  your  past,  present,  and  future  sin. 
AU  the  indebtedness  that  you  have  incurred,  or  may 
hereafter  contract,  it  can  remit,  and  for  ever  cancel  in 
God's  book.  If  any  provision  is  able  to  lift  up  the 
weary  and  heavy-laden  sinner's  heart,  it  is  this.  Well 
may  the  Saviour  cry :  "  K  any  man  thirst,  let  him 
23 


354       THE  FULLNESS  AND  THE  FREENESS  OF  CHRIST. 

come  unto  me  and  drink."  "Ho,  every  one  that 
thirsteth,  come  ye  to  the  waters." 

But  these  "  waters"  are  more  efficacious  still.  Min- 
gled with  the  blood  which  flowed  from  Jesus'  side, 
and  which  taketh  away  sin,  there  ran  a  stream  of 
water.  The  first  was  shed  to  show  that  the  sinner's 
guilt  was  home,  and  that  he  need  no  longer  view  him- 
self as  appointed  unto  wrath.  The  last  typifies  that 
"  Hving  water,"  of  w^hich  whosoever  drinks,  shall  never 
thirst;  in  which  whosoever  washes,  shall  he  clean 
every  whit.  It  represents  the  Spirit  of  God,  who 
changes  the  fallen  heart,  giving  it  new  desires,  new 
feelings,  and  new  powers ;  who  takes  up  his  abode  in 
the  disciple's  soul,  by  his  strength  binding  the  strong 
man  who  had  always  been  in  possession,  purifying 
those  vessels  which  had  been  used  in  the  service  of 
another  God  in  this  inner  temple,  and  ultimately  ex- 
pelling all  that  defileth,  presents  us  faultless  in  the 
presence  of  God. 

Surely,  these  are  wells  of  salvation.  He  who  is 
brought  to  them,  and  who  washes,  is  cleansed  ;  he  who 
drinks,  is  refreshed.  Joy  and  hope  spring  up  in  that 
heart.  From  having  been  of  his  father,  the  wicked 
one,  he  is  translated  into  the  family  of  God.  The 
spirit  of  heavenly  adoption  is  shed  abroad  within.  He 
looks  upward,  and  cries,  "Abba,  Father."  "Ho,  every 
one  that  tliirsteth,  come  ye  to  the  waters."  But  this 
late  wanderer,  so  unclean  and  fainting,  now  washed 
and  refreshed  by  those  "  living  waters"  to  which  he 
had  recourse,  is,  as  a  "new  man,"  introduced  into 
"  the  household  of  faith."  He  sits  down  to  the  table 
.  which  his  Father  spreads.     He  is  prepared  with  his 


THE  FULLNESS  AND   THE  FREENESS  OF  CHRIST.       355 

new  tastes,  to  enjoy  the  bounties  with  which  it  is  fur- 
nished. He  finds  them  "wine  and  milk."  Even  the 
richest  luxuries  of  which  that  table  boasts,  may  seem 
to  mere  natural  eyes  like  uninviting  fare.  Carnal 
tastes  may  revolt.  But  there  the  Lord  Jesus  presides. 
The  last  supper  was  a  type.  There  the  disciple  has 
the  trouble  of  his  heart  dispelled  by  Jesus'  cheering 
words.  He  attains  the  peace  which  Jesus  gives,  with 
which  Jesus  himself  is  blessed.  It  is  his  privilege  to 
lean  on  Jesus'  breast,  and  to  ask  and  receive  replies 
from  Jesus'  mouth. 

Such  is  the  heritage  of  the  followers  of  Christ. 
The  outward  scene  may  change ;  yet,  under  all  cir- 
cumstances, the  "wine  and  the  milk"  are  supplied  to 
the  disciples'  soul.  The  Father  and  the  Son  manifest 
themselves  unto  him,  as  they  do  not  unto  the  world. 
Earthly  treasures  and  children  may  be  swept  away  by 
the  natural  or  human  agents  of  God's  will ;  yet  in  all, 
the  disciple,  hke  the  patriarch  of  Uz,  is  strengthened 
to  feel  and  say,  "  The  Lord  gave,  and  the  Lord  hath 
taken  away;  blessed  be  the  name  of  the  Lord." 
Earthly  friends  may  scorn,  but,  like  this  same  afflicted 
saint,  he  is  supported  by  the  consciousness  that  "  his 
witness  is  on  high,  and  his  judgment  with  his  God." 
"  Father  and  mother  may  forsake,"  but,  like  David, 
he  finds  by  experience,  that  "  then  the  Lord  taketh 
him  up."  As  he  watches  the  ebbing  hfe  of  some  loved 
one,  his  eye  may  be  suffused  with  tears;  but  hopeless 
sorrow  is  eifaced  by  the  assurance  that  he  shall  go 
to  the  departed,  though  this  last  may  not  return  to 
him. 

Disease  may  even  remove  the  disciple  from  outward 


355       THE  FULLNESS  AND  THE  FREENESS  OF  CHRIST. 

communion  with  saints,  and  from  the  enjoyments  of 
earth.  Few  and  wretched  may  be  the  creature  com- 
forts and  remedies  with  which  his  chamber  is  supphed; 
yet  the  Lord  maketh  his  bed  in  all  his  sickness. 
When  at  last  his  hour  comes,  he  breathes  with  confi- 
dence his  soul  into  the  hands  of  that  "  Lord  God  of 
truth  who  redeemed  him  with  his  own  most  precious 
blood."  On  angels'  wings  the  released  spirit  is  borne 
to  the  bosom  of  Abraham,  and  reclines  at  the  marriage 
supper  of  the  Lamb.  "  Ho,  every  one  that  thirsteth, 
come  ye  to  the  waters;  yea,  come  buy  wine  and  milk." 
Oh !  who  will  not  admit  that  Christ  is  the  rich  treasure- 
house  for  fallen  souls  ?  He  is  the  very  fullness  of  the 
Godhead  bodily.  It  is  he  for  whom  you  thirst,  whom 
you  really  need,  my  unconverted  hearer,  though  you 
know  it  not. 

But,  methinks  that  some  may  say :  "  This  testimony 
of  Christ  is  true.  Long  have  we  been  convinced  that 
he  is  all  we  want.  But  how  shall  we  attain  our  heart's 
desire?  With  what  sum  shall  we  purchase  this  in- 
alienable and  blessed  interest  in  God's  incarnate  Son?" 

This  leads  us  to  our  third  and  last  point,  tJie  absolute 
and  unqualified  freeness  of  Chrids  gifts.  Let  our  pre- 
cious text  establish  this  all-important  truth.  If  there 
be  any  of  the  momentous  lessons  which  it  teaches, 
prominently  above  the  rest,  it  is  this.  Hear  what  it 
says :  "  Ho,  every  one  that  thirsteth,  come  ye  to  the 
waters,  and  he  that  hath  no  money ;  come  ye,  buy  and 
eat;  yea,  come  buy  wine  and  milk,  without  money 
atid  without  price."  It  is  not  only  he  "that  thirsteth," 
but  he  that  "  hath  no  money,"  who  is  invited ;  and 
Whether  we  be  without  or  with  any  appearance  of 


THE  FULLNESS  AND  THE  FREENESS  OF  CHRIST.       357 

money,  still  the  water,  the  wine,  and  the  milk  of  the 
Gospel  are  to  be  bought,  in  each  and  every  case  alike, 
"  without  money  and  without  price."  Need  we  say 
how  counter  this  is  to  at  least  the  practical  conviction 
of  the  natural  heart?  There  are  not  wanting  men 
who,  if  they  would  search  their  inner  house  with  a 
candle,  would  find  that  even  the  offering  of  material 
money — white  silver  and  yellow  gold — ^is,  in  some 
measure,  secretly  relied  on  for  commendation  unto 
God. 

Ah !  Lord,  how  frequently  do  thy  dependent  crea- 
tures provoke  thee  in  this  grossly  offensive  way !  and, 
instead  of  thankfully  rendering  to  thee  of  thine  own, 
think  that  the  gift  of  God   can  be  purchased  with 
literal  money.    But  if  the  avowal  of  this  gross  simony 
be  rare,  who  can  say  that  he  is  wholly  free  from 
simony  of  a  more    subtle  and  spuitual  sort?     Are 
there  not  many  who  might  detect  themselves  in  the 
secret  attempt  to  purchase  of  the  holy  God  the  bene- 
fits of  Christ's  grace,  by  ceasing  from  evil,   or  by 
bearing  the  cross,  or  by  the  varied  acts  of  a  holy  life  ? 
Is  not  their  name  legion,  who  withhold  themselves 
from  Gospel  privileges  and  blessings,  until,  by  their 
own  efforts,  or  by  the  so-called  Spirit's  work,  they  are 
rendered  worthy  partakers  of  Christ's  redemption? 
How  few  they  are  who  venture  to  buy  the  wine  and 
milk  of  the   Gospel,  "without   money  and  without 
price !"  who  dare  to  come  in  faith,  just  as  they  are, 
walking  in  the  by-ways  and  hedges  of  the  w^orld,  when 
they  receive  the  call  of  Christ!     They  are  too  un- 
worthy in  their  own  conceptions.    They  must  prepare 
to  meet  their  God.     They  must  purchase  the  wine 


358       THE  FULLNESS  AND  THE  FREENESS  OF  CHRIST. 

and  the  milk  .with  at  least  some  spiritual  money. 
They  would  not  dare  to  drink  of  the  water  of  life 
freely. 

Oh !  tell  me,  are  there  not  many  of  your  fellow- 
creatures  whom  you  would  fear  to  offend  by  offering 
them  remuneration,  when  you  had  been  invited  to  sit 
down  at  their  board  ?  And  shall  God  be  thus  insulted 
in  our  most  secret  thoughts  ?  Dependence  upon  God 
is  the  lesson  which  even  angels,  who  excel  in  might, 
will  continue  to  learn  throughout  their  endless  being ; 
and  as  they  grow  in  the  sense  of  their  own  inherent 
weakness,  they  will  be  more  and  more  perfected  in 
the  strength  of  God.  But  fallen  man  is  required  not 
only  to  lean  on  the  divine  arm,  but  to  trust  exclusively 
in  Christ,  as  the  righteousness  of  God.  The  provision 
of  merit  is  part  of  that  "wine  and  milk"  with  which 
the  Lord  has  spread  his  Gospel  table,  and  to  which  he 
invites  our  sinful  souls.  It  is  a  chief  ingredient  of 
those  "waters"  by  which  the  sinner's  faint  spirit  is 
revived.  The  Gospel-God  never  manifests  himself, 
but  as  one  showing  mercy  to  unrighteousness.  With- 
out qualification,  "he  justifieth  the  ungodly."  "Come 
unto  me,"  is  Christ's  invitation,  without  any  stipulation 
for  preparation  or  delay ;  "  come  unto  me,  all  ye  that 
labor  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest:" 
and  "  him  that  cometh  unto  me,"  the  assurance  is,  "  I 
will  in  no  wise  cast  out." 

Come,  then,  to  Jesus,  though  you  be  destitute, 
and  large  debtors  unto  God ;  for  every  sum  that  you 
owe,  your  Redeemer  has  paid.  Come,  though  your 
sin  rise  up  like  a  mountain;  for  your  load  of  ill-desert 
your  di\dne  sacrifice  has  borne  in  his  own  body.  Come 


THE  FULLNESS  AND  THE  FREENESS  OF  CHRIST.   359 

in  all  your  naked  corruption,  and  be  clothed  with 

Christ  as  the  righteousness  of  God.     Such  exclusive 

trust  in  Jesus,  is  the  sum  total  of  all  that  you  must 

feel  and  do.     He  who  hath  this  trust,  hath  come  to 

the  Son ;  he  hath  been  drawn  to  the  Father ;  he  is  a 

child  of  Grod,  made  such  by  the  renewal  of  the  Spirit; 

he  is  prepared  to  enter  on  the  pursuits  and  joys  of  the 

household  of  faith;  to  partake,  with  a  thankful  heart, 

of  the  wine  and  milk  of  the  Gospel.     He  sits  down 

at  the  Lord's  table,  clothed  in  a  wedding-garment,  and 

as  an  accepted  guest.     He  is  admitted  on  earth  to 

some  measure  of  that  closer  intimacy  with  God,  which 

is  the  privilege  of  the  redeemed  of  Christ.     He  hath 

in  reserve  a  song  to  learn  which  angels  cannot  sing. 

He  is  to  grow  not  only  in  holiness,  like  them,  but  in 

grace  and  in  the  knowledge  of  his  Lord  and  Saviour 

Jesus  Christ.     He  is  to  increase  not  only  in  conscious 

weakness  and  divine  strength,  like  them ;  but  he  is 

to  partake  more  and  more  of  that  wine  and  milk  with 

which  the  heavenly  Canaan  flows  only  for  those  who 

have  been  redeemed  from  the  earth.     He  is  to  be  a 

king  and  a  priest  unto  God  and  his  Father  for  ever. 

Who,  then,  will  shut  himself  out  from  this  Gospel 
gift— this  gift  so  freely,  so  graciously  bestowed?  "Ho, 
every  one  that  thirsteth,  come  ye  to  the  waters,  and 
he  that  hath  no  money;  come  ye,  buy  and  eat;  yea, 
come,  buy  wine  and  milk,  without  money  and  without 
price." 


SERMON  XXIV. 


GOD,  THE  HELP  OF  THE  SPIRITUAL  SUICIDE. 


Hosea  xiii.  9. 


"  Oh  !  Israel,  thou  hast  destroyed  thyself  ;  but  in  me  is  thine 

HELP." 

There  is  enough  in  the  first  clause  of  this  text  to 
dishearten,  to  cast  down,  and  to  kill  every  unregene- 
rate  hearer;  there  is  enough  in  the  second  to  make 
alive,  to  raise  up,  and  to  inspire  with  joyful  hope.  In 
the  most  summary  way,  by  the  use  of  a  single  word, 
our  natural  condition  is  declared  to  he  as  wretched 
and  hopeless  as  it  can  possibly  be  :  we  are  said  to  be 
"destroyed."  We  are  not  cautioned  against  destruc- 
tion as  an  evU  which  is  near  and  threatening,  and  into 
which  we  may  fall,  or  which  may  overtake  us ;  but, 
according  to  our  Scripture,  we  are  akeady  involved  in 
it.  Neither  does  God  use  words  inconsiderately;  he 
does  not  exaggerate.  He  means  all  that  he  says;  and 
what  he  means  and  says  is  only  in  accordance  with 
the  fact.  We  are  "destroyed."  All  nature  affords 
no  prospect,  no  possibility  of  deliverance  in  any  way 
or  degree.  There  is  no  strength  to  rescue,  no  hope  to 
be  realized,  no  life  to  accept  and  enjoy  salvation. 

"  There  is  hope  of  a  tree,  if  it  be  cut  down,  that  it 
will  sprout  again,  and  that  the  tender  branch  thereof 


362  GOD,  THE  HELP  OF  THE  SPIRITUAL  SUICIDE. 

will  not  cease.  Though  the  root  thereof  wax  old  in 
the  earth,  and  the  stock  thereof  die  in  the  ground, 
yet,  through  the  scent  of  water,  it  will  bud  and  bring 
forth  boughs  like  a  plant.  But  man  dieth,  and  wasteth 
away;  yea,  man  giveth  up  the  ghost;  and  where  is 
he  ?  As  the  waters  fail  from  the  sea,  and  the  flood 
decayeth  and  drieth  up,  so  man  lieth  down,  and  riseth 
not:  till  the  heavens  be  no  more,  they  shall  not  awake, 
nor  be  raised  out  of  their  sleep." 

This  simile  and  statement,  which  Job  uses  to  illus- 
trate and  describe  bodily  death,  is,  according  to  our 
text,  (for  we  waste  not  words  to  prove  what  is  evi- 
dent— that  what  it  affirms  of  the  temporal  condition 
of  Israel  is,  and  was  intended  to  be  applicable  to  the 
situation,  by  nature,  of  every  fallen  soul,) — it  is  true, 
we  say,  of  the  spiritual  state  by  nature  of  our  race; 
in  its  root  and  branch,  we  are  "  dead  in  trespasses 
and  sins ;"  we  are  "  destroyed."  But  the  text,  more- 
over, tells  us  a  truth  which  clothes  even  despair  with 
additional  terrors ;  which  mixes  remorse  with  despair, 
and  which  renders  us,  in  our  desperation,  self-haters. 
It  would  endue  us  with  some  moral  courage,  and  afford 
us  some  solace,  if  we  knew  that  our  calamities  had 
been  brought  upon  us  through  another's  agency  and 
fault,  by  an  act  in  which  we  were  not  implicated ;  but 
the  text  assures  us  these  evils  have  been  inflicted 
upon  ourselves  by  oui'selves.  "With  a  suicidal  arm 
we  plunged  the  dagger  into  our  own  bosoms.  "  Thou 
hast  destroyed  tiiyself."  Oh!  what  overwhelming 
reflections,  what  an  intolerable  consciousness  does  this 
fact  awaken  even  in  this  world,  when  we  obtain  a  few 
glimpses  of  it  under  the  convictions  of  sin!     What 


GOD,  THE  HELP  OP  THE  SPIRITUAL  SUICIDE.  363 

untold  and  inconceivable  agonies  will  it  not  cause, 
should  we  ever  realize  it,  in  all  its  fullness,  in  the 
world  of  woe ! 

But,  although  involved  in  all  the  despairing  and  re- 
morseful wretchedness  of  this  self-destruction,  from 
which  it  is  impossible  for  all  creatures  to  deliver  us, 
yet  there  proceeds,  through  our  text,  a  voice  from 
Him  whom  we  had  the  most  reason  to  dread — without 
whom  we  could  never  be  kept  in  existence  to  endure 
the  terrific  effects  of  our  own  spiritual  suicide,  and 
with  whom  "all  things  are  possible,"  even  our  spiritual 
resurrection ;  and  it  says  to  us,  even  to  us,  who  lie 
scattered,  like  the  dry  bones  in  the  valley  of  Ezekiel's 
vision.  Ye  can  live ;  "  in  me  is  thine  help." 

Such,  then,  is  the  startling  character  of  our  text  1 
Whom  of  us,  if  we  remain  what  we  are,  "  by  nature," 
"  children  of  wrath,"  will  it  not  distress  in  view  of  what 
it  shows  we  are,  alarm  by  what  it  threatens  we  may 
continue  to  be,  and  encourage  by  the  hope  which  it 
sets  before  us  ? 

We  shall  endeavor,  then,  to  fasten  upon  your  con- 
victions the  solemn  truths  which  our  text  announces 
and  involves,  by  considering,  first,  that  we  are  destroyed; 
2dly,  that  we  have  destroyed  ourselvves  ;  3dly,  that  it 
is  a  Utter  thing  to  le  a  spiritual  suicide ;  and,  4thly, 
that  there  is  help,  effectual  help,  for  even  such  desperate 
and  self-abhorring  outcasts,  in  God. 

First,  then.  Every  man  in  his  natural  state  is  destroyed. 
This  will  appear  if  we  ask.  In  what  destruction  con- 
sists? and  then  show  that  each  of  the  particulars 
which  it  involves,  is  true  of  every  fallen  child  of 
Adam.     If  a  thing  has  lost  its  essential  character ;  if 


364  GOD,  THE  HELP  OF  THE  SPIRITUAL  SUICIDE. 

it  no  longer  possesses  the  main  property  with  which 
it  was  originally  endued ;  if  it  cannot  be  used  for  the 
purpose  for  which  it  was  intended,  and  can  never 
attain  its  original  ends ;  if  neither  its  own  recupera- 
tive energies,  nor  yet  any  created  strength,  can  restore 
its  original  character  and  power — whatever  else  it 
may  be,  it  is  no  lon:er  its  first  self;  "it  is  destroyed." 
Thus,  a  ship  which  no  longer  floats,  which  has  sprung 
a  leak,  and  sunk  amid  breakers,  from  which  it  cannot 
be  recovered  either  by  the  efforts  of  its  own  helpless 
crew,  nor  yet  by  the  help  of  those  who  look  upon  the 
wreck  with  impoten'  pity,  which  it  is  impossible  should 
ever  again  be  navigated,  or  answer  the  purposes  of 
trade — such  a  ship  is  "  destroyed." 

Just  so  is  it  with  the  fallen  soul.  We  were  origi- 
nally created  in  the  likeness  of  God,  in  righteousness 
and  true  holiness.  This  image  we  have  lost.  Our 
affections  are  no  longer  holy  and  heavenly,  but  earthly 
and  sensual.  The  ends  and  objects  at  which  we  aim, 
are  not  those  which  God  has  in  view.  No  sympathy 
exists  between  God  and  us;  no  communion  takes 
place  between  him  and  us.  Instead  of  delighting  to 
confide  in  him,  and  to  make  known  our  wants  and  re- 
quests with  filial  feelings,  we  prove  our  alienation  by 
avoiding  his  presence,  and  by  restraining  prayer  before 
him.  Indeed,  if  prayer  ever  be  attempted  in  our 
natural  state,  it  is  generally  a  cold  and  irksome  task^ 
and  never  more  than  a  temporary  and  self-deceiving 
enthusiasm.  Unconverted  men,  through  the  blindness 
of  the"r  hearts,  and  the  ignorance  that  is  in  them,  may 
frequently  make  attempts  of  this  kind  to  converse 
with  God;  and  if  the  vail  is  ever  taken  from  theu* 


GOD,  THE  HELP  OF  THE  SPIRITUAL  SUICIDE.  365 

eyes,  and  they  perceive  the  true  character  of  the  Most 
High,  and  the  relations  in  which  they  stand  to  him — 
if  ever  under  proper  convictions  of  their  sins,  they 
endeavor  to  pray,  they  are  no  longer  heartless  and  in- 
different in  the  act :  neither  is  such  a  service  agreeable 
to  the  flesh ;  but  they  then  feel  as  the  Israelites  did 
at  the  foot  of  Sinai,  when  God  revealed  himself  in  the 
terribleness  of  his  holiness  and  justice.  They  quake 
and  tremble,  and  are  filled  with  the  most  dreadful 
apprehensions  of  the  majesty  and  wrath  of  God.  They 
then  find  by  experience,  that  they  are  under  condem- 
nation, and  that  they  deserve  to  be  so ;  because  they 
are  filled  with  iniquity,  at  which  God  cannot  justly 
look.  Neither  do  any  eiforts  of  their  own  rid  them  of 
the  disqualification  to  commune  with  God,  under  which 
they  labor.  Though  they  wash  themselves  with  nitre, 
and  take  them  much  soap,  yet  is  their  iniquity  marked 
before  God ;  and  when  the  Ethioioian  changes  his  skin, 
and  the  leopard  his  spots,  then  may  they  be  authorized 
in  the  hope  of  doing  well,  who  have  learnt  to  do  evil. 
So  utterly  have  they  lost  their  original  character,  and 
failed  in  the  purpose  for  which  they  were  first  created. 
They  no  longer  enjoy  communion  with  God ;  they  no 
longer  live  to  his  glory ;  and  fruitless  are  their  efforts 
to  elevate  themselves  to  this  exalted  privilege  and 
aim  from  which  they  have  fallen.  They  are  the  most 
deplorable  spiritual  wrecks — so  perverted  and  debased 
that,  for  the  most  part,  they  are  not  even  aware  of  the 
uses  and  ends  for  which  they  were  originally  designed; 
and;  while  engaged  in  the  groveUing  pursuits  of  flesh 
and  sense,  vainly  imagine  that  they  are  fulfilUng  the 
purposes  for  which  they  were  made— like  ships  which 


366  GOD,  THE  HELP  OF  THE  SPIRITUAL  SUICIDE. 

have  been  long  since  driven  higli  and  dry  upon  the 
beach,  buried  in  the  sand,  and  which,  with  their 
precious  freight,  have  decayed,  and  lost  nearly  every 
trace  of  what  they  once  were. 

Such,  then,  are  fallen  men  by  nature :  they  are  lost 
to  fellow-creatures,  to  themselves,  and  to  God ;  lost  to 
all  the  uses  and  ends  and  joys  for  which  they  were 
designed;  lost  to  the  sense  and  shame  of  their  own 
ruin ;  lost  beyond  all  natural  prospect  and  power  of 
recovery.  "Without  hope,  and  without  God,"  they 
grope  on  in  bUnd  unconsciousness  of  their  state, 
through  this  world,  until  the  vail  be  taken  away,  and 
they  lift  up  their  eyes  in  hell,  under  the  full  torments 
of  that  destruction,  of  which,  if  their  consciences  had 
not  been  seared  as  with  a  red-hot  u'on,  and  they  had 
not  been  incapable  of  spiritual  feeling,  they  could 
never  have  been  unaware. 

Oh!  fallen  and  yet  unconverted  fellow-man,  God 
assures  thee  in  the  text,  thou  art  "destroyed;"  but 
the  arrow  from  the  Almighty's  quiver  penetrates  still 
deeper ;  it  cannot  be  extracted ;  for  it  is  barbed  when 
he  adds,  "  Thou  hast  destroyed  thyself." 

This  brings  us  to  our  second  point,  which  is — Our 
destruction  we  have  brought  upon  oui'selves. 

Does  not  nature  itself  teach  us  this  startling  truth  ? 
What  crime  committed  by  a  fellow-man  against  us,  or 
against  society,  or  against  God,  have  we  ever  been 
ready  to  excuse  upon  the  ground,  that  the  agent  could 
not  be  justly  held  responsible  ?  Are  we  not  measured, 
too,  by  others  in  the  same  way  that  we  measure  them? 
It  is  true,  that  we  may  frequently  endeavor  to  avoid 
the  consequences  of  our  crime,  by  denying  our  com- 


GOD,  THE  HEL8  OF  THE  SPIRITUAL  SUICIDE.  367 

mission  of  it,  or  by  pleading  the  provocation  which 
we  suffered,  or  the  extenuation  of  other  circumstances ; 
but  such  an  effort  undeniably  enhances  our  guilt  in  the 
sight  of  the  All-seeing  eye,  and  proves  both  the  utter 
destruction  of  our  originally  holy  characters,  and  our 
own  agency  in  bringing  and  riveting  that  destruction 
upon  ourselves.  For  the  subsequent  attempts  at  de- 
ception only  add  to  the  guilt  of  the  first  crime,  and 
develope  the  incorrigible  character  of  our  fallen  na- 
tures; they  show  us  more  clearly  to  be  "vessels  of 
wrath  fit  only  for  destruction."  This  same  guilty  self- 
love  no  doubt  frequently  leads  many  to  endeavor  to 
shield  themselves  from  the  reproaches  of  conscience 
and  the  affliction  of  self-abhorrence,  by  perverting  the 
light  which  revelation  has  shed  upon  the  introduction 
of  evil  into  the  world,  and  the  radical  character  of  our 
corruption,  with  no  other  purpose  than  to  disclose 
the  depth  of  our  guilt,  and  the  utter  hopelessness  of 
our  case  in  ourselves.  They  thus  persuade  them- 
selves that  the  blame  of  sin  can  only  justly  attach  to 
Adam,  and  that  we  are  not  culpable  for  only  following 
and  gratifying  the  inclinations,  however  fallen,  which 
we  find  in  the  natures  with  which  we  are  born.  They 
thus  succeed,  to  their  own  satisfaction,  in  convincing 
themselves,  that  they  have  not  destroyed  themselves, 
but  that  their  first  father  hath  done  it.  Nor  are  they 
slow  to  infer  hence,  either  that  they  shall  hereafter 
escape  with  impunity,  since  they  cannot  be  justly  held 
responsible  for  another's  act;  or  else  that,  if  punished, 
they  will  be  the  victims  of  oppression. 

Thus,  one  part  of  God's  revelation,  which  was  made 
only  to  show,  by  its  very  origin,  the  radical,  and  total, 


368  GOD,  THE  HELP  OF  THE  SPIRITUAL  SUICIDE. 


and  universal  character  of  man's  guilt  and  corruption, 
is  so  perverted  as  to  obscure,  or  to  convict  of  falsehood 
and  injustice,  other  parts  in  which  we  are  charged 
with  sin  and  threatened  with  the  curse.  But  who  is 
there,  that  ever  came  under  the  influences  of  God's 
Spirit  (all  of  whose  operations  are  in  perfect  consis- 
tence with  truth  and  justice,)  that  did  not  feel  his 
own  ill-desert — nay,  his  liability,  in  all  equity,  to  the 
everlasting  pains  of  hell?  Who  is  there,  under  such 
teaching,  that  has  not  perceived  the  graciously  just 
ordering  of  all  the  circumstances  under  which  our 
nature  was  originally  tried  ?  who,  while  thus  im- 
pressed, has  ever  dared  to  flatter  himself  that  he 
would  have  acted  otherwise  than  Adam  did?  who 
could  refuse  then  to  see  that  the  nature  of  which  he 
is  a  branch,  became  at  that  time  corrupt  and  ill-de- 
serving in  its  root?  who,  under  such  convictions,  has 
ever  hesitated  to  admit,  that  he,  with  all  his  fellow- 
men,  then  destroyed  himself;  and  that  every  act  of 
iniquity  which  has  been  since  committed  in  the  world, 
is  only  a  consistent  following  out  of  that  sin,  by  which 
our  nature  extinguished  its  own  light,  and  holiness, 
and  joy,  alienated  itself  from  God,  and  came  under 
his  irrevocable  curse  ? 

Oh!  whether  we  contemplate  any  one  of  those 
thousand  sins  by  which  we  have  endorsed  the  act  of 
our  first  father  in  the  garden  and  made  his  guilt  our 
own;  or  whether  we  look  at  that  great  trial  of  our 
nature  itself,  under  all  its  attending  circumstances  and 
consequences,  we  cannot  justly  deny  the  charge  which 
God  brings  against  each  of  us  in  the  text :  "  thou  hast 
destroyed  thyself;"  thou  art  a  spiritual  suicide;  thou 


GOD,  THE  HELP  OF  THE  SPIRITUAL  SUICIDE.  369 

hast  put  out  my  life  in  thy  soul;  thou  hast  recklessly 
plunged  into  that  fallen  state  in  which  thou  wert  born 
and  hast  lived.  If  the  character  in  which  I  created 
thee  is  lost;  if  the  exalted  end  for  which  I  designed 
thee  is  exchanged  for  one  that  is  grovehng,  sensual 
and  selfish ;  if  the  noble  powers  with  which  thou  wert 
originally  endued  are  broken;  if  there  be  no  natural 
prospect,  or  possibility,  of  thy  recovery,  the  guilt  lieth 
at  thine  own  door;  in  every  evil  that  thou  encounterest 
in  this  world,  and  when  thou  liest  down  in  hell,  re- 
member, it  is  thou  hast  done  it,  "thou  hast  destroyed 
thyself."  Would,  that  each  of  you,  my  unconverted 
hearers,  could  be  brought  to  feel,  in  heart  and  mind, 
the  truth  of  the  charge  which  God  thus  makes!  and 
oh !  that  you  might  then  see,  though  never  feel,  in  all 
its  terribleness,  what  was  mentioned  as  our  third  head, 
that.  It  is  an  evil  thing  and  a  hitter  to  he  a  spiritual 
suicide. 

We  are  so  constituted,  beloved  friends,  that  the 
least  evil  which  we  bring  upon  ourselves  is  harder  to 
bear  by  some  natures,  than  the  greatest  which  others 
can  inflict  upon  us  without  cause.  Thus,  any  breach, 
through  ignorance  or  neglect,  of  a  trifling  law  of  mere 
conventional  etiquette,  has  been  known  to  affect  some 
persons  more  deeply  and  for  a  longer  time,  than  the 
greatest  insults  which  others  could  heap  upon  them. 
And  if  our  temporal  prospects  should  be  seriously 
injured  by  our  own  agency,  the  affliction  is  a  hundred 
fold  heavier  than  if  it  had  been  brought  upon  us  by 
another  hand.  Oh!  who  can  fathom  the  terrible 
consciousness  of  many  a  convicted  murderer,  when  he 
realizes  that  it  is  for  his  own  act  he  is  about  to  endure 
24 


370  GOD,  THE  HELP  OF  THE  SPIRITUAL  SUICIDE. 

all  the  suffering,  and  ignominy,  and  consequences  of 
the  last  penalty  of  the  law?  Now,  this  principle  has 
an  incalculably  fearful  force  in  spiritual  things.  Bhnd 
carnal  men  may  be  far  from  appreciating  its  power  in 
this  respect.  They  may  conceive  that  the  evil  which 
they  are  treasuring  up  for  themselves  by  impenitence 
and  unbelief,  is  so  light  that  they  are  ready  to  en- 
counter it,  as  the  price  of  acquiring  that  portion  in 
this  life  which  they  desire,  and  that  they  can  easily 
endure  the  thought  of  having  brought  it  on  themselves. 
As  the  Jews  cried  out  concerning  our  Lord,  when  they 
sought  his  death,  "His  blood  be  on  us  and  on  our 
children;"  so  they  may  be  prepared  to  brave  God's 
warnings  and  threatenings  in  his  word ;  but  when  the 
impending  wrath  descends,  they  will  be  overwhelmed. 
Even  in  this  world,  convicted  sinners  have  cried  out : 
"  Our  punishment  is  greater  than  we  can  bear,"  "  Our 
iniquities  have  taken  hold  upon  us;  they  are  more 
than  the  hairs  of  our  head;  as  an  heavy  burden  they 
are  too  heavy  for  us,  we  are  unable  to  look  up."  In 
what  a  terrible  light  do  they  then  view  their  past 
recklessness  in  the  pursuits  and  pleasures  of  sin !  At 
what  price  would  they  not  be  w^illing  to  obliterate 
their  own  agency  in  crime,  and  in  calling  down  upon 
themselves  that  wrath  of  God,  a  sense  of  which  is 
now  awakened  in  their  souls !  All  else  would  be  easy 
to  endure ;  but  the  thought,  that  they  have  destroyed 
themselves  is  more  than  they  can  bear.  In  the  hour 
of  death,  too,  as  the  departing  spirit  unreconciled  and 
unforgiven,  sometimes  reaUzes  its  condition,  and  anti- 
cipates its  woes,  how  does  it  look  back  upon  its  own 
career  of  impenitence,  its  scornful  neglect  of  the  offers 


GOD,  THE  HELP  OF  THE  SPIRITUAL  SUICIDE.  371 

of  mercy,  until  now  it  cannot  shake  off  the  awful  con- 
viction, that  its  day  of  grace  is  spent!     As  we  follow 
the  soul  of  the  deceased  to  the  bar  of  Christ,  who  can 
conceive  the  conscious  despair  with  which  it  hears  the 
sentence,  "  Depart  from  me,  thou  cursed,  into  everlast- 
ing fire !" — who  imagine  the  remorse  which  it  expe- 
riences in  the  thought,  that  this  doom  is  well-merited, 
that  it  was  brought  by  itself  upon  itself?     As  this 
spiritual  suicide  turns  away  from  the  King  who  sits 
upon  the  judgment-seat;  as  he  makes  his  way  to  his 
own  place  through  the  parted  ranks  of  those  holy  and 
blessed  ones  who  stand  around,  how  will  he  be  able 
to  encounter  the  look  of  those  who  regard  him  as  one 
that  has  laid  violent  hands  upon  his  own  immortal 
soul! — who  say  with  their  eyes,  if  not  with  their 
tongues,  "Thou  hast  destroyed  thyself!"     When  he 
actually  Hes  down  in  hell,  and  views  it  as  his  eternal 
home;  when  he  suffers  throughout  endless  ages,  the 
gna wings  of  "the  worm  that  dieth  not,  and  of  the  fire 
that  is  not  quenched,"  how  will  he  be  able  to  endure 
his  own  presence,  when,  without  the  possibihty  of 
doubt  or  contradiction,  he  lays  at  his  own  door  the 
charge:  "Thou  hast  destroyed  thyself!" 

Such  would  be  the  awful  beginning  of  the  eternal 
experience  of  every  unconverted  man  in  this  house, 
if  the  One  with  whom  he  has  to  do  should  only  bid 
him  now  to  exchange  worlds !  He  needs  not  anew  to 
lift  up  his  hand  against  himself  and  to  murder  his  own 
soul,  ere  the  eternal  consciousness  of  spiritual  suicide 
should  be  awakened  in  his  breast;  for  this  he  has 
already  done;  he  has  already  destroyed  himself;  he 
has  cut  himself  off  from  all  that  is  blessed  in  heaven 


372  GOD,  THE  HELP  OF  THE  SPIRITUAL  SUICIDE. 

and  in  God;  he  has  brought  down  upon  himself  the 
unwilhng,  but  just  and  necessary  curse  of  his  offended 
God;  his  full  experience  of  the  destruction  in  which 
he  has  involved  himself  depends  entirely  upon  the 
will  of  Him,  whose  wrath  he  has  provoked,  and  who 
is  every  way  worthy  of  his  love.  But  ere  God  hft 
his  hand  and  swear,  "Thou  shalt  never  enter  into  my 
rest,"  he  addresses  you,  beloved,  at  least  once  more, 
in  those  precious  words  of  encouraging  love  which  are 
found  in  our  text:  "0  Israel,  thou  hast  destroyed 
thyself,  but  in  me  is  thine  help !" 

And  this  brings  us  to  our  last  head.  There  is  help, 
effectual  help,  for  even  such  desperate  and  self-abhorring 
outcasts  as  ourselves,  in  God. 

God  would  not  otherwise  assure  us  of  the  fact.  He 
never  excites  a  hope,  which  he  is  not  able  and  ready 
to  fulfill.  Our  case  may  appear  to  us  desperate  in 
the  extreme,  and  so  far  as  our  own,  or  creature,  de- 
liverance is  concerned,  it  may  indeed  be  hopeless. 
The  guilt  which  we  have  incurred  by  sinning  against 
the  Almighty  may  seem  to  us  unpardonable,  and  it 
may  in  truth  be  immeasurable.  Oui'  original  charac- 
ters may,  in  our  estimation,  be  irrecoverably  ruined; 
our  own  spiritual  powers  may,  by  our  painful  expe- 
rience, be  proved  to  be  broken;  all  possibiHty  of  at- 
taining, through  ourselves  or  by  creature  assistance, 
those  glorious  ends  for  which  we  were  designed,  may 
be  lost;  or  we  may  have  destroyed  ourselves;  and 
although  we  ma}'  acknowledge  it  is  in  the  compass  of 
divine  power  and  wisdom  to  devise  and  eJQfect  our 
salvation,  yet  our  suicidal  souls  are  slow  to  hope,  that 
He,  under  whose  just  condemnation  we  He,  will  actually 


GOD,  THE  HELP  OF  THE  SPIRITUAL  SUICIDE.  373 

ransom  us  from  the  dominion  of  death  and  hell;  yet 
he  addresses  each  of  us  in  these  encouraging  words: 
"in  me  is  thine  help." 

Nay,  God  fully  discloses,  in  other  parts  of  his  word, 
the  just  grounds  and  effectual  character  of  that  re- 
demption which  he  has  provided  for  our  suicidal  souls. 
Upon  his  well  beloved  Son,  he  has  laid  the  guilt  of 
that  whole  course  of  sin,  which  in  its  beginning  cut  us 
off  from  God,  and  which  in  its  continuance  has  con- 
firmed our  total  alienation  from  the  original  Father  of 
our  spirits.  Through  his  Spirit,  purchased  for  the 
purpose  by  the  blood  of  Christ,  he  is  prepared  with 
an  almighty  power  to  restore  that  image  of  himself  in 
which  we  were  originally  created,  and  to  crown  us 
with  a  glory  and  blessedness  above  that  which  our 
first  father  lost.  "  Look  unto  me,"  says  that  Saviour 
whom  God  hath  sent  into  this  self-ruined  world,  "Look 
unto  me,  and  be  ye  saved,  all  the  ends  of  the  earth." 
"  As  Moses  lifted  up  the  serpent  in  the  wilderness, 
even  so  must  the  Son  of  Man  be  lifted  up,  that  who- 
soever beUeveth  in  him  should  not  perish  but  have 
eternal  life."  Does  any  despairing  and  self-ruined 
soul,  brought  to  the  foot  of  Jesus'  cross,  ask,  "What 
must  I  do  to  be  saved?"  "Is  salvation  possible  in  my 
case?"  To  him  Jesus  in  his  word  repHes,  "Only 
beUeve;  all  things  are  possible  to  him  that  beheveth;" 
and  as  an  instance  of  the  all-inclusive  character  of 
Christ's  redemption,  and  of  the  power  of  faith  to  save, 
let  me  close  by  relating  a  case,  of  which  perhaps  many 
of  you  have  heard,  but  by  following  in  the  steps  of 
which  the  most  guilty  and  despairing  self-destroyer 
may  be  saved :     Such,  then,  are  the  facts — 


374  GOD,  THE  HELP  OF  THE  SPIRITUAL  SUICIDE. 

"Mr.  Whitefield,  a  brother  of  the  Rev.  George  White- 
field,  after  living  some  time  in  a  backsliding  and  care- 
less state,  was  roused  to  a  perception  of  his  danger, 
but  shortly  after  sunk  into  melancholy  and  despon- 
dency. He  was  drinking  tea  with  the  Countess  of 
Huntingdon  one  afternoon,  while  her  ladyship  was 
endeavoring  to  raise  his  hopes  by  conversing  on  the 
infinite  mercy  of  God  through  Jesus  Christ.  For  a 
while  it  was  all  in  vain.  ^My  Lady,'  he  replied,  'I 
know  what  you  say  is  true.  The  mercy  of  God  is 
infinite.  I  see  it  clearly.  But  ah !  my  Lady,  there  is 
no  mercy  for  me.  I  am  a  wretch,  entirely  lost.'  'I 
am  glad  to  hear  it,  Mr.  W.,'  said  Lady  H.,  '  I  am  glad 
at  my  heart  that  you  are  a  lost  man.'  He  looked  with 
great  surprise.  *What!  my  Lady,  glad !  glad  at  your 
heart  that  I  am  a  lost  man!'  ^Yes,  Mr.  Whitefield, 
truly  glad :  for  Jesus  Christ  came  into  the  world  to 
save  the  lost!'  He  laid  down  his  cup  of  tea  on  the 
table. — 'Blessed  be  God  for  that,'  he  said.  'Glory 
to  God  for  that  word!'  he  exclaimed.  'Oh!  what 
unusual  power  is  this  which  I  feel  attending  it !  Jesus 
Christ  came  to  save  the  lost!  then  I  have  a  ray  of 
hope;'  and  so  he  proceeded.  As  he  finished  his  last 
cup  of  tea,  his  hand  trembled,  and  he  complained  of 
illness.  He  went  out  of  the  house  for  air,  staggered, 
was  brought  in,  and  shortly  after  expired." 

My  unconverted  friend.  He  who  plucked  this  soul 
in  the  eleventh  hour  as  a  brand  from  the  burning,  may 
prove,  too,  in  youi*  case,  that  He  came  to  seek  and  to 
save  that  which  is  lost.  Look  up  to  the  Author  of 
faith ;  and  he  may  give  you  the  power  to  appropriate 
to  yourself  the  gracious  message  in  the  text :  "  Thou 
hast  destroyed  thyself,  but  in  me  is  thine  help." 


SERMON  XXY. 


A    DAYSMAN    NEEDED. 


Job  ix.  30,  33. 

"  If  I  WASH  MYSELF  WITH  SNOW  WATER,  AND  MAKE  MY  HANDS  NEVER  SO 
clean;  yet  SHALT  THOU  PLUNGE  ME  IN  THE  DITCH,  AND  MINE  OWN 
CLOTHES  SHALL  ABHOR  ME.  FoB  HE  IS  NOT  A  MAN,  AS  I  AM,  THAT  I 
SHOULD  ANSWER  HIM,  AND  WE  SHOULD  COME  TOGETHER  IN  JUDG- 
MENT.    Neither  is  there  any  daysman  betwixt  us,  that  might 

LAY  HIS  HAND  UPON  US  BOTH." 

The  expression  of  these  sentiments  was  wrung  from 
Job  in  one  of  those  despairing  moods,  into  which  the 
adverse  providences  of  God,  the  condemnation  of  our 
fellow-men,  and  the  temptations  of  the  devil,  when 
combined,  often  cast  the  believer;  and  which  those 
only,  who  are  experienced  in  these  depths,  know  how 
to  appreciate.  In  them  the  enlightened  Christian 
takes  such  spiritual  and  Scriptural  views  of  his  own 
ill-desert  and  of  God's  justice,  that  the  superficial  are 
startled,  and  the  self-righteous  revolt;  while,  at  the 
same  time,  the  free  mercy  of  his  God  in  Christ  is  so 
hidden,  that  he  is  filled  with  wretchedness  and  gloom. 
Whatever  the  desponding  child  of  God,  therefore, 
teaches  concerning  the  law  may  be  founded  on  reve- 
lation and  experience,  and  be  true ;  but  his  percep- 
tions of  the  Gospel  will  be  necessarily  obscure  and 


o76  A  DAYSMAN  NEEDED. 

false.  Were  it  otherwise,  we  could  scarcely  conceive 
of  such  straits  as  Job's,  in  which  he  says:  "The 
arrows  of  the  Almighty  are  within  me,  the  poison 
whereof  drinketh  u^  my  spirit :  the  terrors  of  God  do 
set  themselves  in  array  against  me." 

We  are  now  furnished  with  the  key  of  the  passage 
before  us.  The  text  is  a  faithful  expounder  of  God's 
law ;  it  is,  however,  a  faithless  denyer  of  Christ's  gospel. 
It  was  recorded  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  as  an  instance  of 
the  blindness  and  the  despair,  which,  in  affliction, 
sometimes  overtake  the  believer. 

Look  now  at  the  immediate  occasion  of  Job's  using 
the  striking  figurative  language  before  us.  His  two 
friends,  Ehphaz  and  Bildad,  had  been  maintaining  the 
doctrine,  that  the  providential  dealings  of  God  with 
men  were  regulated  by  the  principles  of  impartial  and 
inflexible  justice — that  the  upright  were  always  pros- 
pered, and  the  wicked  invariably  punished,  and  hence 
that  a  well-known  divine  attribute  and  practice  proved, 
that  the  dreadful  treatments  and  disease  of  Job  were 
inflicted  in  consequence  of  his  heinous  sinfulness  and 
hypocrisy,  and  because  he  was  guilty  before  God's  bar. 
In  the  course  of  their  argument,  one  of  them  had 
asked:  "Shall  mortal  man  be  more  just  than  God? 
shall  a  man  be  more  pure  than  his  Maker?"  and  the 
other  inquired:  "Doth  God  pervert  judgment?  or 
doth  the  Almighty  pervert  justice  ?"  Our  whole  chap- 
ter is  a  most  logical  refutation  by  the  afflicted  patriarch 
of  this  stern  and  false  theory  of  his  censorious  friends. 
He  begins  his  reply  with  the  admission :  "  I  know  it 
is  so  of  a  truth,"  as  you  say,  God's  justice  cannot  be 
impeached;  but  then,  upon  your  principles,  it  is  im- 


A  DAYSMAN  NEEDED.  377 

possible  for  any  fallen  creature  to  be  on  peaceful  terms 
witb  him  who  cannot  look  upon  iniquity.  If  God  be 
strict  to  mark  iniquity,  and  if  he  show  no  mercy,  "  how 
should  any  man  be  just  with  God?"  "For  all  have 
sinned  and  come  short  of  the  glory  of  God;"  and  if 
God  "will  contend  with  man,  man  cannot  answer  him 
one  of  a  thousand."  I  maintain,  therefore,  there  must 
be  some  other  mode  of  being  justified  before  God,  than 
that  legal  way  upon  which  you  insist;  and  hence,  I 
will  not  admit  that  all  my  past  hopes  of  having  peace 
and  acceptance  with  God  have  been  hypocritical  and 
unfounded. 

It  was  in  pursuance  of  this  same  train  of  thought, 
that  Job  uttered  the  words  of  our  text :  "  If  I  wash 
myself  with  snow  water,  and  make  my  hands  never 
so  clean;  yet  shalt  thou  plunge  me  in  the  ditch,  and 
mine  own  clothes  shall  abhor  me.  For  he  is  not  a 
man  as  I  am,  that  I  should  answer  him,  and  we  should 
come  together  in  judgment.  Neither  is  there  any 
daysman  betwixt  us,  that  might  lay  his  hand  upon  us 
both."  It  thus  appears,  that  while  Job  triumphantly 
vindicates  himself  from  the  false  assumptions  of  his 
carnal  and  self-righteous  friends,  by  duly  magnifying 
the  holiness  and  justice  of  God, — he,  yet,  by  having 
no  insight,  at  this  stage  of  his  trial,  into  the  provisions 
of  Gospel  grace,  by  not  perceiving  the  foundations  on 
which  God's  mercy  rests,  involves  all  men  in  a  common 
and  inevitable  ruin,  and  plunges  himself  into  the  depths 
of  wretchedness  and  despair.  Examine  now  the  terms 
in  which  this  afflicted  saint  declares  his  just  and  hope- 
less condemnation.  Can  anything,  brethren,  be  more 
expressive  than  Job's  style  of  conveying  his  momen- 


378  A  DAYSMAN  NEEDED. 

tous  spiritual  conceptions  in  our  text  ?     Without  any 
preparatory  note,  relying  simply  upon  the  intelligible 
force  of  the  question  which  he  asks,  to  explain  his 
meaning,  he  brings  his  soul  before  us  in  a  bodily  shape. 
How  evidently  strong  are  the  desires  of  that  soul  to 
make  itself  meet  to  appear  before  the  presence  of  God ! 
how  obviously  deep  are  its  convictions  of  the  necessity 
of  resorting  to  the  best  possible  means  of  washing  out 
every  spot,  or  stain,  or  thing  which  can  offend;  how 
earnest  are  its  eiforts  in  their  use.     In  attempting  to 
accomplish  this  purpose.  Job's  soul,  you  perceive  in 
the  text,  despises  the  clearest  stream  that  ever  coursed 
through  a  crystal  bed — those  waters  are  too  turbid  for 
the  bath  which  it  desires.     Nay,  the  fountain  itself, 
from  which  these  spring,  will  not  answer  the  end :  for, 
in  the  estimation  of  his  soul,  no  earthly  laver  can  ren- 
der a  creature  fit  to  appear  before  the  eyes  of  the 
King  of  heaven.     Only  in  that  which  comes  from 
heaven  itself,  and  which  in  purity  may  be  supposed 
to  vie  with  the  robes  of  those  who  walk  in  white  with 
God,  does  the  soul  of  our  patriarch  think  of  making 
itself  ready  for  examination,  or  of  hoping  for  reception, 
by  its  God.     It  exclaims :  "  If  I  wash  myself  in  snow 
water" — which,  as  it  lies  in  a  bright  day  on  the  face 
of  the  earth,  is  of  unmixed  and  dazzling  white — suffer- 
ing not  the  penetration  of  a  single  ray — turning  every 
other  creature  dim — and  by  comparison,  almost  making 
light  itself  of  a  dingy  hue. — "  If  I  wash  myself  in  snow 
water,"  may  I  hope,  he  inquires,  for  acceptance  with 
my  God?     Nor,  we  must  remark,  did  Job's  soul  pro- 
pose to  make  this  most  purifying  of  aU  earthly  baths 
either  hurried  or  shght.     There  the  patriarch  gives  us 


A  DAYSMAN  NEEDED.  379 

to  understand,  in  our  text,  that  his  soul  would  persist 
in  laving  itself,  until  it  was  not  only  without  spot ;  but 
until,  to  all  human  appearance,  it  could  vie  in  whiteness 
with  the  very  element  in  which  it  had  been  immersed; 
until  it  seemed  as  pure  as  snow  itself:  especially,  he 
informs  us,  would  it  strive  to  cleanse  its  hands — the 
agents  through  which  it  had  held  communication  with 
the  world,  and  in  which,  if  anywhere,  evil  might  be 
thought  to  dwell,  and  to  be  exposed  to  detection. 
The  effect  of  all,  we  are  told,  would  be,  that  it  would 
make  its  "hands  never  so  clean." 

Now,  what  does  all  this  figurative  language  mean  ? 
Surely  it  requires  no  extraordinary  insight  to  perceive 
the  meaning  of  this  holy  man  of  old.  He  reasons  on 
the  presumption,  that,  in  his  desires  and  efforts  to 
obey  and  please  God,  he  had  aimed  at  no  creature 
standard,  he  had  been  guided  by  no  human  rules; 
neither  the  philosophy  of  man,  nor  the  customs  and 
opinions  of  society,  nor  even  the  dictates  of  his  own 
conscience  had  been  recognized  as  law.  These  had 
been  regarded  as  fallen  and  under  the  curse,  and  he 
had  intuitively  shrunk  from  attempting  to  commend 
himself  to  God  by  conforming  to  any  of  them.  But 
what,  if  he  had  resorted  to  waters  infinitely  purer  than 
any  which  originated  on  earth — what  if  he  had  had 
recourse  to  the  very  statutes  of  God,  which,  like 
driven  snow,  had  descended  from  heaven,  and  are  as 
pure  as  the  place  from  which  they  emanated;  what, 
if  he  had  spent  his  entire  life  in  the  endeavor  to  be- 
come acquainted  with  their  meaning  and  to  follow 
their  du'ections;  what,  if  he  had  so  far  succeeded  in 
his  aims,  that  fallen  creatures  could  detect  no  flaw  in 


380  A  DAYSMAN  NEEDED. 

his  title  to  eternal  life,  but  he  had  fairly  won  the 
plaudits  of  his  fellow-men,  and  stood  acquitted  at  the 
bar  of  his  own  conscience;  what,  if  his  name,  by  uni- 
versal concession,  stood  at  the  head  of  the  saintly 
calendar,  and  in  his  last  hours,  his  friends  should 
gather  round  his  bed,  reciting  his  good  deeds,  and 
cheering  his  departing  spirit  with  the  prospect  of  its 
abundant  welcome  and  reward  from  God, — what,  if  all 
this  had  been  done  and  reached,  would  he  merit  and 
receive  a  blessing  from  the  hands  of  Him  with  whom 
he  had  to  do,  when  he  no  longer,  as  heretofore,  heard 
of  Him  with  the  hearing  of  the  ear,  but  saw  Him  with 
his  eye? — Hear  now  the  reply  of  our  enhghtened 
patriarch  to  this  momentous  question.  "Yet,"  saith 
Job,  notwithstanding  all  these,  my  efforts  and  attain- 
ments, "shalt  Thou  plunge  me  in  the  ditch,  and  mine 
own  clothes  shall  abhor  me."  Could  the  utter  insufii- 
ciency  of  all  human  righteousness  be  more  strongly 
illustrated?  After  such  honest  efforts  by  a  soul  to 
commend  itself  to  God,  as  could  only  be  represented 
by  its  refusing  to  wash  in  anything  short  of  snow 
water;  after  it  had  attained  such  purity  that  it  could 
be  said,  "natural  hands  were  never  so  clean" — yet 
when  it  came  to  stand  in  the  presence  of  God,  it  was 
adjudged  to  have  just  come  out  of  the  ditch,  covered 
with  mire  and  filth — its  very  contact  being  regarded 
as  so  contaminating,  that  all  things,  animate  and  in- 
animate, shrunk  from  its  approach ;  its  very  clothes 
abhorring  it,  and  refusing  to  cover  such  a  mass  of  pol- 
lution and  deformity. 

But  may  we  not,  brethren,  suppose,  that  Job  was 
here  viewing  man's  character  and  powers  with  the 


A  DAYSMAN  NEEDED.  381 

jaundiced  eye  of  an  afflicted  soured  spirit;  that  his 
statement  is  ultra  and  fanatical,  and  by  no  means  in 
consistence  with  the  teachings  of  God's  word?  Hear, 
then,  the  doctrine  on  this  point,  which  proceeded  from 
the  mouth  of  God  himself:  "Though  thou  wash  thee 
with  nitre,  and  take  thee  much  soap,  yet  thine  iniquity 
is  marked  before  me,  saith  the  Lord  God." 

Our  Saviour's  well-known  case  of  the  Pharisee, 
moreover,  plainly  shows  how  utterly  impossible  it  is 
for  any  man  to  attain,  by  anything  within  his  reach, 
justification  before  God.  Except,  indeed,  he  assures 
us,  our  righteousness  exceed  all  this,  we  shall  in  no 
case  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  The  very 
profession  of  merit,  the  very  entertainment  of  such  a 
hope  on  the  part  of  fallen  man,  according  to  our  patri- 
arch, proves,  of  itself,  his  utter  ill-desert:  "If  I  justify 
myself,"  says  Job,  "mine  own  mouth  shall  condemn 
me :  if  I  say,  I  am  perfect,  it  shall  also  prove  me 
perverse." 

Do  any  now,  with  indignation,  exclaim,  "  Then  are 
mankind  in  an  evil  case — if  by  nothing  they  can  do, 
not  even  by  their  most  strenuous  efforts  to  follow  the 
divine  law  itself,  they  can  gain  the  favor  and  accept- 
ance of  God.  Are  we  required,  do  such  ask,  to  re- 
ceive this  with  an  impHcit  faith?  or  is  any  reason 
assigned  for  such  an  extraordinary  economy  in  spiritual 
things  ? 

Hear,  now,  our  text,  in  continuance : — This  is  so, 
saith  Job;  "for  he  is  not  a  man,  as  I  am,  that  I  should 
answer  him,  and  we  should  come  together  in  judgment." 
We  are  here  taught  why  it  is  that  any  other  creed  is  ever 
held  by  a  single  child  of  Adam.  Unless  God  be  looked 


382  A  DAYSMAN  NEEDED. 

upon  as  a  man  like  ourselves — unless  he  be  degraded 
by  us  to  a  level  with  ourselves,  it  is  utterly  impossible 
for  us,  in  any  of  our  thoughts  or  deeds,  to  conceive 
that  we  shall  merit  his  approbation,  or  that,  if  he 
should  condescend  to  meet  with  us  before  another's 
judgment-seat,  we  could  successfully  plead  against  the 
charges  he  might  bring.  Oh !  if  we  had  exalted  scrip- 
tural views  of  the  infinite  majesty  of  God's  nature — 
if  we  knew  that  it  was  impossible  to  find  out  the 
Almighty  unto  perfection,  and  to  understand  the  ex- 
tent and  character  of  his  claims  in  and  over  us,  we 
would  conclude  with  Job,  in  our  chapter :  "  Though  I 
were  perfect,  yet  would  I  not  know  my  soul;"  that  is, 
though  I  thought  myself  without  sin,  yet  I  would  still 
be  in  doubt  until  I  had  passed  through  his  scrutiny, 
and  had  heard  my  acquittal  from  his  mouth. 

This  would  indeed  be  the  case  with  himself,  our 
patriarch  impUes,  even  though  he  had  kept  his  original 
estate — though  he  had  never  fallen.  He  tells  us,  that 
if  God  had  brought  in  a  bill  against  him,  although  he 
were  like  Adam  in  paradise,  he  would  file  no  "answer," 
because  "  God  is  not  a  man,  as  I  am."  Mark,  he  says 
not,  God  is  not  such  a  man — that  is,  a  fallen  man — as 
I  am;  but  he  is  not  a  man,  as  I  am;  that  is,  he  has 
not  a  human,  a  created  nature.  Impossible  is  it  for 
any  "  potsherd  of  the  earth"  to  be  brought  before  a 
bar  with  his  Maker,  and  thus  to  "  come  together  in 
judgment."  If,  then,  an  unfallen  man  might  well  trem- 
ble at  the  thoughts  of  God's  bar,  much  more  did  it 
become  one  who  was  born  under  the  curse  of  igno- 
rance and  sin,  to  be  dumb  with  silence  when  God 
spake ;  to  lay  his  hand  upon  his  mouth,  and  his  mouth 


A  DAYSMAN  NEEDED.  383 

in  the  dust,  when  he  to  whose  eye  all  things  are  open 
and  naked,  accused  him  of  short-coming.  Nay,  it  be- 
hooved this  son,  who  was  made  in  the  likeness  of  a 
fallen  father,  if  he  had  learnt  the  most  elementary 
spiritual  truth,  to  feel  satisfied  that  "none  can  bring  a 
clean  thing  out  of  an  unclean ;"  and  therefore,  even 
before  God's  sentence  should  be  heard,  to  dismiss 
any  hope  of  acceptance  in  himself,  and  to  eschew  a 
trial  in  his  own  name. 

Oh !  to  what  a  state  of  absolutely  iniquitous  impo- 
tence is  God  degraded,  when  a  fallen  man,  by  his  faith 
and  hopes,  implies  that  the  one  with  whom  he  has  to 
do  is  such  a  one  as  himself;  that  is,  when,  through 
his  own  efforts  and  acquirements,  or  because  he  has 
gained  the  approval  of  his  own  judgment,  he  looks 
forward  to  the  acquittal  and  reward  of  his  God.  He 
thus,  in  effect,  ascribes  to  the  Almighty  not  only  the 
infirmities  of  a  creature,  but  all  the  blindness  and 
sinful  affection  to  which,  in  consequence  of  the  fall,  he 
is  himself  subject ! 

If,  therefore,  any  man  hope  for  justification,  because 
he  has  made  any  attempt  to  cleanse  his  soul,  and  has 
washed  himself  in  snow-water — that  is,  attempted  to 
keep  the  divine  law — the  very  expectation  proves 
that  he  has  robbed  God  of  some  of  his  blessed  attri- 
butes, and  his  own  mouth  condemns  him.  If, 
according  to  such  a  one,  God  be  holy  and  just, 
be  penetrating  and  wise,  then  that  judgment  of  God 
in  which  these  infinite  attributes  are  to  be  exercised, 
must  of  necessity  agree  with  the  conclusion  at  which 
he  himself  had  arrived,  either  in  setting  up  a  standard 
of  duty  for  himself,  or  in  interpreting  that  standard 


384  A  DAYSMAN  NEEDED. 

which  had  been  supplied  him  from  heaven,  or  in  form- 
ing an  opinion  of  the  extent  and  value  of  his  own 
obedience.  Job,  we  have  seen,  repudiated  every  such 
confidence;  he  was  bereft  of  aU  hope  in  himself.  But 
was  our  afflicted  patriarch  not  able  to  derive  an  ex- 
pectation of  deliverance  from  any  other  quarter  ?  In 
his  present  faithless  and  distressed  condition,  none, 
none  whatever.  For,  after  having  renounced  every 
thought  of  braving  the  scrutiny  of  God,  he  continues, 
in  despaii',  to  say:  "Neither  is  there  any  daysman 
betwixt  us,  that  might  lay  his  hand  upon  us  both." 
Either  Job  had  here  wholly  lost  sight  of  Christ,  or  he 
did  not,  at  this  moment,  feel  any  personal  interest  in 
Christ's  mediation  and  intercession.  It  is  true  that, 
at  other  times,  this  afflicted  child  of  God  saw  this 
matter  in  a  different  light;  recognizing  the  possibility, 
if  not  the  actual  existence  of  such  a  Mediator,  and 
praying  for  a  personal  interest  in  his  atonement. 

Elsewhere  he  makes  these  supplications :  "  Oh !  that 
one  might  plead  for  a  man  with  God,  as  a  man  plead- 
eth  for  his  neighbor!"  And  again:  "Put  me  in  a 
surety  with  thee."  All,  too,  remember  the  remarkable 
confidence  with  which  he  declared,  "  I  know  that  my 
Redeemer  liveth."  But  here,  in  our  text,  he  would 
seem  to  have  been  given  up  to  all  the  gloom  of  unbe- 
lief. "  Neither  is  there,"  he  declares,  "  any  daysman 
betwixt  us."  "What  is  meant  by  "daysman?"  There 
is  none,  he  means,  who  has  been  appointed  to  settle 
the  controversy  between  God  and  me  on  a  particular 
day ;  or  who,  by  a  certain  day,  is  expected  to  bring  it 
to  an  amicable  adjustment.  There  is  no  arbitrator,  no 
umpire,  no  mediator,  no  referee,  who  has  either  power 


A  DAYSMAN  NEEDED^  385 

or  authority,  in  the  striking  figurative  language  of  our 
patriarch,  to  stretch  out  his  hands,  laying  one  on  God, 
and  one  on  me — ^preventing  violence,  until  he  satisfy 
us  both,  and  reconcile  us  to  each  other. 

Our  whole  text,  then,  amounts  to  this : — It  is,  as 
though  this  eminent  child  of  God,  overwhelmed  with 
the  severe  and  multiplied  afflictions  with  which  he  had 
been  providentially  overtaken,  had  lost  all  sense  of  his 
personal  interest  in  the  covenant  of  grace,  and  had  set 
out  to  search  anew  for  a  foundation  upon  which  to 
base  his  hope.  After  critically  and  minutely  ex- 
amining his  own  hohness  and  claims,  he  unequivocally 
acknowledges  their  utter  worthlessness ;  nay,  their 
positive  ill-desert.  He  then  turns  his  eye  upward  to- 
wards God ;  but,  at  once,  he  shrinks  back  in  terror  at 
the  sight  of  his  majesty  and  justice,  and  owns  that  he 
there  met  with  only  "  consuming  fire." 

We  have  thus  far  followed  the  patriarch  in  his 
earnest  search  for  a  saving  hope.  We  have  reached 
with  him  the  scriptural  conclusion,  that  there  was  no 
ground,  either  in  himself  or  God,  to  expect  salvation 
or  escape.  We  have  seen  him,  at  this  point,  turning 
away  both  from  himself  and  God — looking  up  to 
heaven  and  around  the  earth — searching  the  wide 
universe  for  one  able  and  disposed  to  adjudicate  be- 
tween himself  and  God  ;  for  one  competent  to  satisfy 
the  violated  claims  of  the  Most  High  upon  his  guilty 
soul.  The  discovery  of  such  a  one,  we  clearly  per- 
ceive, is  desperately  needed  in  his  case;  it  is  with 
him  either  life  or  death.  All  would  be  reheved  to 
hear  the  announcement  that  a  Saviour  had  been  found  ; 
but  the  patriarch's  mind  the  god  of  this  world  had  here 
25 


386  A  DAYSMAN  NEEDED. 

been  permitted  to  blind,  lest  the  light  of  the  glorious 
Gospel  of  Christ,  who  is  the  image  of  God,  should 
shine  unto  him.  In  his  wretchedness  he  assures  us, 
as  the  conclusion  of  the  whole,  "  Neither  is  there  any 
daysman."  We  can  almost  see  him  in  despair  shut 
his  eyes  and  clasp  his  hands;  realizing  his  worst  fears, 
and  assured  that  he  is  accounted  an  outcast — his  pre- 
sent sufferings  being  a  token  of  God's  wrath,  and  a 
foretaste  of  the  perdition  that  awaits  his  soul. 

Our  text  addresses  itself  to  two  classes  in  our  midst. 
First,  it  teaches  you,  fellow-disciples,  that,  in  evert/ 
severe  and  deep  trial  of  your  souls,  the  sight  of  Jesus, 
faith  in  the  provisions  of  that  better  covenant  of  which  he 
is  the  mediator,  is  your  only  solace  and  support.  We  are 
subject  to  these  trials  in  the  courts  of  our  own  con- 
sciences, at  any  hour.  God  may  put  us  upon  them  in 
seasons  even  of  worldly  prosperity.  It  needs  only 
the  withdrawal  of  his  comforting  Spirit,  and  a  com- 
mission given  to  the  accuser,  to  bereave  us  of  our 
well-founded  hopes.  No  scriptural  claim  can  ever  be 
discerned  in  om'selves;  nor  will  any  ray  of  mercy 
reach  us  from  God,  as  the  giver  of  the  law ;  for,  by 
its  "  deeds,  no  flesh  shall  be  justified."  If,  then,  we 
look  not  to  Jesus,  even  in  the  midst  of  earthly  plenty, 
we  shaU  suffer  spiritual  death;  our  very  blessings 
will  be  converted  into  curses,  and  thought  to  be  sent 
by  God  as  the  means  of  fattening  us  for  the  slaughter. 
Without  a  sense  of  Christ's  saving  presence,  many  a 
believer  has  walked  through  the  very  tokens  of  God's 
mercy,  with  all  the  gloomy  apprehensions  of  an  heir 
of  wrath. 

But,  especially  in  periods  of  affliction,  such  as  Job's, 


A  DAYSMAN  NEEDED.  387 

is  the  disciple's  soul  often  put  upon  sore  trials  of  this 
kind.  Then,  all  of  God  that  can  be  seen  and  felt, 
assumes  an  angry  shape  and  look.  His  providence 
has  cut  off  the  desire  of  our  eyes,  and  laid  our  bodies 
on  a  bed  of  pain.  In  the  meanwhile,  his  consolations 
with  us  are  small ;  if,  indeed,  he  have  not  withdrawn 
all  sense  of  his  favor  and  love.  Mistaken  earthly 
friends,  like  Job's,  either  cruelly  forsake,  or  unjustly 
suspect.  Nor,  as  the  climax  of  our  sufferings,  are  we 
free  from  the  fiery  darts  of  the  wicked.  Whither,  in 
such  an  urgent  case,  shall  we  look  for  hope  or  help? 
Neither  God  nor  his  word  cut  us  off  from  the  privilege 
of  seeking  his  face  with  fasting  and  with  prayer.  But 
how  prone  are  we,  under  such  comfortless  circum- 
stances, to  trust  in  that  which  sense  finds  near  at 
hand^instead  of  using  these  means  of  grace  to  reach 
after  Christ,  that  we  may  rely  on  him  as  our  only 
righteousness  and  plea ;  to  depend  upon  those  means 
of  grace  themselves,  as  meritorious  denials  of  the  flesh  ! 
instead  of  seeking  by  them  to  find  that  fountain  which 
was  opened  in  Jesus'  side,  for  sin  and  for  uncleanness ; 
to  wash  in  them  as  snow-water,  and  to  make  our  hands 
never  so  clean. 

Oh !  can  the  scriptural  mind  wonder  that  every 
ablution  of  the  kind  proves  with  God  to  be  like  wal- 
lowing in  a  ditch  ?  and  that,  in  despair,  we  learn  that 
God  is  not  a  man,  as  we  are,  that  we  should  answer 
him,  and  come  together  in  judgment?  What  we,  after 
such  an  experience,  feel  ourselves  to  want,  is  a  sight 
of  that  daysman  to  whom  all  power  and  judgment 
have  been  committed  between  the  Father  and  our- 
selves.    Wretched,  indeed,  is   our  condition,  if  we 


388  A  DAYSMAN  NEEDED. 

cannot  then  discover  him  whom  our  souls  desire  and 
need. 

Oh!  then,  brethren,  let  us  by  faith  always  keep 
the  daysman  betwixt  God  and  us  in  view.  In  every 
time  of  trial  and  distress,  let  us  see  in  his  hand  that 
all-sufficient  covenant,  which  assures  us  that  our  sins 
are  freely  forgiven  through  his  blood — that  God  is  our 
God,  though  he  give  us  plenteousness  of  tears  to 
drink — that  we  are  loved,  though  we  be  chastened, 
and  that  all  things  shall  work  together  for  good  to 
them  who  love  God,  and  who  are  the  called,  according 
to  his  purpose. 

Finally,  our  subject  addresses  itself  to  those  ivho 
have  no  i^lea  or  hope  in  Christ.  Many  of  you,  my 
friends,  would  no  doubt  be  perplexed,  if  honestly 
asked.  Upon  what  do  you  habitually  depend  to  com- 
mend you  to  God,  and  to  secure  the  salvation  of  your 
souls?  Shame,  after  a  moment's  reflection,  might 
provide  you  with  some  answer;  but  its  different  parts 
would  probably  be  inconsistent  with  each  other,  and 
conscience  would  inwardly  own,  that  the  reply  was 
given  that  you  might  not  appear  so  inconsiderate  as  to 
be  wholly  negligent  in  this  momentous  matter.  If  the 
truth  were  owned  to  yourselves  and  others,  it  would 
be  evident  that  you  have  on  this  subject  no  reliance 
whatever;  that  you  are  not  even  in  the  daily  ob- 
servance of  any  set  of  laws  or  rules,  upon  which  you 
trust  for  acquittal  at  God's  bar;  that  you  follow  the 
stream  in  society,  or  the  current  of  temptations  and 
lusts,  with  no  reference  to  that  to  which  they  tend  in 
the  eternal  world ;  that  you  are  guilty  of  many  notorious 
transgressions,  so  that  if  you  should  appear  before 


A  DAYSMAN  NEEDED.  389 

God,  he  might  say  of  your  guilt,  as  he  did  in  the  case 
of  some  of  old  :  "  I  have  not  found  it  by  secret  search, 
but  upon  all  these."  Need  we  say  that  Job's  example 
teaches,  that  a  daysman  is  needed  between  you  and 
Him  who  cannot  look  upon  iniquity? 

There  are  some,  again,  who  profess  to  be  philoso- 
phers, and  to  be  guided  by  reason  in  their  entire 
course ;  some,  who  compare  themselves  with  their 
fellow-men,  and  who  are  satisfied  with  the  morals  and 
customs  of  the  circle  in  which  they  move ;  some,  who 
claim  to  follow  the  dictates  of  their  conscience,  and 
not  to  be  aware  that  in  anything  they  heinously 
offend.  These,  though  unlike  each  other,  all  labor 
under  the  same  radical  defect.  Does  not  the  declara- 
tion of  our  text,  (the  evident  truth,)  that  God 
is  not  a  man,  that  you  should  answer  him — alarm 
your  souls  lest  your  creature  intellects  should  not 
be  able  to  fathom  the  Almighty,  and  to  decide 
what  his  claims  and  majesty  require  of  you  ?  Have 
you  no  suspicion  that  this  may  be,  as  the  Bible  de- 
clares it,  a  fallen  and  corrupt  state,  and  that  these 
earthly  streams  are  too  muddy  so  to  wash  one,  that 
he  can  appear  before  him  in  whose  eyes  the  heavens 
are  not  clean  ? 

Surely,  all  philosophers,  and  w^orldlings,  and  moral- 
ists need  Jesus,  the  incarnate  God,  as  a  daysman  be- 
twixt them  and  him,  who  has  said :  "  My  ways  are 
not  your  ways,  neither  are  my  thoughts  your  thoughts ; 
for  as  the  heavens  are  higher  than  the  earth,  so  are 
my  ways  higher  than  your  ways,  and  my  thoughts 
than  your  thoughts." 

But,  in  conclusion,  there  may  be  some  who  have 


390  A  DAYSMAN  NEEDED. 

ascended  much  higher  than  these  earthly  spirits ;  who 
have  been  content  with  washing  in  nothing  short  of 
the  snow-water  of  God's  law,  which  is  as  clean  and 
pure  as  God  himself  from  which  it  came ;  some,  whose 
efforts  to  purify  themselves  have  been  so  honest  and 
persevering,  that,  as  touching  the  law,  they  are  con- 
sciously blameless,  or  at  least  excusable.  Judged  by 
their  own  and  man's  judgment,  their  hands  may  be 
never  so  clean,  yet  are  they  not  thereby  justified ;  for 
he  who  judgeth  them  is  the  Lord;  and  when  they 
appear  before  the  bar  of  the  All-seeing  One,  our  text 
forewarns  them,  "  He  will  plunge  them  in  the  ditch, 
and  their  own  clothes  shall  abhor  them ;"  all  nature 
will  stand  aghast  at  their  turpitude  and  guilt. 

Oh !  why  is  this  ?  It  is  because  God  is  not  a  man, 
as  is  every  such  an  one.  He  is  not  a  fallen  carnal 
creature,  who  discerneth  not  spiritual  things — whose 
mind  is  enmity  against  His  own  blessed  perfect  nature. 
He  will  put  such  an  interpretation  upon  his  claims  over 
the  human  soul,  upon  the  requirements  of  his  own  law, 
as  never  entered  into  the  heart  of  an  unenhghtened 
child  of  Adam  to  conceive ;  and  the  most  confident 
will  at  once  be  covered  with  shame  and  confusion  of 
face. 

Let  all,  then,  who  justify  themselves,  be  now  con- 
vinced that  they  are  condemned  by  their  own  mouth. 
Let  them  be  reproved  of  sin  by  the  Comforter  whom 
Jesus  sends.  Let  every  human  and  every  legal  con- 
fidence and  stay  be  renounced.  Let  that  daysman, 
who  has  already  one  of  his  hands  on  God — rendering 
him  forbearing  and  long-suffering — lay  the  other  upon 
you,  and  bring  you,  and  Him  with  whom  you  have  to 


A  DAYSMAN  NEEDED.  391 

do,  togetlier,  into  a  close  and  lasting  league  of  peace — 
a  covenant,  sealed  with  the  Daysman's  own  blood — 
providing  against  all  your  ignorance,  infirmity,  and 
ill-desert,  and  ordered  in  all  things  and  sure. 


SERMON  XXVI. 


EVIL  IN  RESERVE  FOR  THE  SELF-AVILLED;  OR,  PRESENT 
GRACE  THE  ONLY  PLEDGE  OF  FUTURE  GRACE. 


Jeremiah  xii.  5. 


"  If  thou  hast  run  with  the  footmen,  and  they  have  wearied 
thee,  then  how  canst  thou  contend  with  horses  ?  and  if,  in 
the  land  of  peace,  wherein  thou  trustedst,  they  wearied 
thee,  then  how  wilt  thou  do  in  the  swelling  of  jordan?" 

This  is  figurative  language,  and  intended  to  teach 
an  important  spiritual  truth.  Jlotv  st7'iJdng  and  graphic, 
however,  is  the  imager?/  under  which  the  lesson  is  con- 
veyedl  In  abrupt,  but  well-drawn  outline,  it  first  brings 
before  us  a  solitary  and  wretched  fugitive,  endeavoring 
to  escape  from  a  host  of  deadly  enemies  in  hot  pur- 
suit. He  is  almost  spent  by  the  exertions  which  he 
is  making  for  his  fife,  and  is  ready  to  faint  and  yield. 
Ere  long,  however,  the  hostile  party  appear  on  the 
field  in  greater  numbers  and  better  equipped;  they 
are  mounted  on  fleet  and  warlike  chargers,  and  it 
seems  quite  evident  that  the  pursuers  will  soon  over- 
take theu'  prey.  Indeed,  so  obviously  is  he  losing 
ground,  so  exhausted  is  his  strength,  and  so  hopeless 
is  his  case,  that  the  miserable  man  is  in  our  text  dis- 
couraged from  all  further  effort.  He  is  asked,  and 
the  question  assigns  a  reason  for  his  yielding  at  once, 


394  EVIL  IN  KESERVE  FOR  THE  SELF-WILLED. 

"  If  thou  hast  rim  with  the  footmen,  and  they  have 
wearied  thee,  then  how  canst  thou  contend  with 
horses  ?" 

The  Spirit  of  Inspiration,  however,  bent  on  im- 
pressing the  party  addressed  with  a  sense  of  utter 
despondency,  is  not  content  with  the  use  of  a  single 
figure,  but  varies  the  scene,  and  enforces  the  same 
lesson  by  imagery  still  more  striking  and  terrible. 
We  are  next  led,  in  the  sketch  drawn  by  the  divine 
pen,  to  see  a  neat  and  flourishing  residence,  on  the 
banks  of  a  quiet  stream.  There  is  apparently  every- 
thing to  make  its  occupant  satisfied  and  happy.  He 
seems,  indeed,  himself  to  have  been  aware  that  there 
were  many  things  in  his  situation  that  were  desirable. 
He  particularly  congratulated  himself  that  the  land 
was  free  from  invasion ;  and  he  was  evidently  endea- 
voring to  turn  every  advantage  to  account.  StiU,  he 
was  far  from  being  contented.  He  was  not  as  pros- 
perous as  he  desired  to  be ;  and  his  neighbors  were 
not  kind ;  nay,  they  were  absolutely  inclined  to  per- 
secute. 

On  the  whole,  he  spent  a  miserable  life,  and  was 
fretful  and  murmuring.  Suddenly,  however,  all  these 
idle  complaints  were  hushed.  An  inevitable  and  over- 
powering calamity  arose.  It  was  worse  than  the  pur- 
suit of  armed  horsemen ;  for  they  had  human  hearts, 
and  might  relent.  But  who  can  reason  with  the  over- 
flowing surge  ?  The  river,  on  the  banks  of  which  this 
grumbler  lived,  burst  over  its  bounds;  with  terrific 
speed  it  swept  before  it  all  that  had  been  gathered  by 
the  toil  of  years,  and  neither  man  nor  beast  were  able 

+  Q    fiiC!Pftrtf>, 


EVIL  IN  RESERVE  FOR  THE  SELF-WILLED.  395 

All  this  is  vividly  portrayed  by  the  second  question 
in  our  text :  "  And  if,  in  the  land  of  peace,  wherein 
thou  trustedst,  they  wearied  thee,  then  how  wilt  thou 
do  in  the  swelling  of  Jordan?" 

But  it  is  time  for  us  now  to  ask,  With  whom,  and  for 
what  purpose,  did  the  Spirit  of  God  utter  this  appalling  re- 
monstraxice  ?  It  is  his  opening  rejoly  to  Jeremiah ;  and  it 
was  addressed  to  him  under  the  following  circumstances. 
At  an  early  age,  Jeremiah  had  been  called  to  the  office  of 
a  prophet  in  his  native  Anathoth,  a  small  village  within 
a  few  miles  of  Jerusalem.  His  neighborhood,  and 
indeed  the  whole  generation  of  his  countrymen,  were 
characterized  by  remarkable  ungodliness.  In  view  of 
its  wickedness,  the  punishment  and  desolation  of  the 
land  had  been  determined  upon  in  the  divine  counsels; 
and  the  exercise  of  our  projDhet's  duties  became,  in 
consequence,  anything  but  a  pleasant  task.  His  official 
intercourse  with  the  people  consisted  of  little  else 
than  mutual  menaces — he  denouncing  them  for  their 
sins,  and  foretelling  the  calamities  which  impended; 
and  they  accusing  him  of  imposture,  and  threatening 
him  with  punishment.  The  painful  and  perilous  rela- 
tions which  our  prophet  thus  sustained  towards  his 
neighbors,  preyed  upon  his  spirit;  and  he  ventured, 
in  our  context,  to  address  himself  to  the  Almighty  for 
an  explanation  of  the  mysterious  and  severe  provi- 
dences which  he  had  to  encounter.  In  his  preface 
he  makes  the  most  respectful  acknowledgment  that  all 
the  divine  ways  were  righteous;  yet  he  asks  for  leave 
to  talk  with  God,  on  familiar  terms,  respecting  his 
judgments.  He  then  inquires  why  it  is,  that  the 
wicked  people  and  the  treacherous  are^^happy  ?  why 


396  EVIL  IN  RESERVE  FOR  THE  SELF-WILLED. 

it  is  that  they  are  so  firmly  established,  and  that 
they  and  their  famihes  flourish,  notwithstanding  their 
evident  hypocrisy;  while  he,  whom  God  knew,  and 
whose  heart  had  proved  faithful  under  every  trial,  had 
to  endure  the  evils  of  poverty  and  disgrace,  and  was 
exposed  to  deadly  dangers?  With  inexcusable  vin- 
dictiveness,  Jeremiah  then  proceeds  to  call  down  judg- 
ments on  the  heads  of  his  ungodly  foes.  The  answer 
of  God  was  intended  to  reprove  the  prophet  for  his 
present  impatience  and  faithlessness,  and  to  show  him 
that  providence  had  in  reserve  for  him  trials  incalcu- 
lably more  severe.  Could  anything  be  better  calcu- 
lated to  produce  this  effect,  than  the  remonstrance  in 
our  text,  with  which  the  Almighty  opens  his  reply  ? 
"  If  thou  hast  run  with  the  footmen  and  they  have 
wearied  thee,  then  how  canst  thou  contend  with 
horses?  and  if  in  the  land  of  peace,  wherein  thou 
trustedst,  they  wearied  thee,  then  how  wilt  thou  do  in 
the  swelling  of  Jordan?" 

All  acquainted  with  the  subsequent  history  of  our 
prophet,  know  that  the  calamities  which  befell  him 
afterwards,  when  thought  of  in  connection  with  the 
trials  of  which  he  complains  in  our  chapter,  were  like 
the  pursuit  of  horses  in  comparison  with  that  of  foot- 
men ;  like  the  overflowing  of  Jordan,  when  contrasted 
with  the  common  casualties  of  hfe.  The  inhabitants 
of  the  obscure  village  of  Anathoth,  though  ungodly 
and  inimical,  were  weak  and  placable  foes,  when  com- 
pared with  the  leading  and  wily  politicians  of  the 
metropolis — the  king  and  princes,  and  priests  and  false 
prophets  in  Jerusalem,  to  which  Jeremiah,  in  common 
with  all  his  countrymen,  was  soon  driven  by  the  in- 


EVIL  IN  RESERVE  FOR  THE  SELF-WILLED.  397 

vading  army  of  the  Chaldeans.  Like  all  the  besieged, 
from  whom  every  supply  was  cut  off,  he  was  reduced 
to  the  extremity  of  famine.  But  the  threatenings 
against  the  rulers  and  people  of  Jerusalem,  which  a 
divine  impulse  required  him  to  deliver,  soon  excited 
his  wicked  fellow-sufferers  to  madness;  and  after  en- 
during much  persecution  and  violence,  he  was  thrown 
into  a  dark  and  wet  dungeon,  into  the  deep  mire  of 
which  he  sunk,  and  was  there  left  with  murderous 
unfeelingness  apparently  to  suffer  a  frightful  death. 
How  despairing  and  bitter  were  the  reproaches  which 
the  prophet  uttered  under  these  trying  circumstances ! 
"  Cursed  be  the  day,"  he  cried,  "wherein  I  was  born : 
let  not  the  day  wherein  my  mother  bare  me  be  blessed. 
Cursed  be  the  man  who  brought  tidings  to  my  father, 
saying,  A  man  child  is  born  unto  thee;  making  him 
very  glad.  Let  that  man  be  as  the  cities  which  the 
Lord  overthrew,  and  repented  not:  because  he  slew 
me  not  from  the  womb."  How  incapable  of  contending 
with  horses  was  he,  who  had  been  wearied  by  running 
with  footmen !  how  unable  to  buffet  with  the  overflow- 
ing flood  of  Jordan  was  he  who  had  been  wearied  in 
the  land  of  peace ! 

Such  were  the  calamities  which  awaited  Jeremiah, 
at  the  time  when  that  interview  with  God  took  place, 
which  is  recorded  in  our  chapter;  and  such  were  the 
despondency  and  blasphemies  with  which  he  met  the 
afflictive  providences,  when  they  finally  overtook  him ! 
Well,  therefore,  might  God  forewarn  him  of  what  was 
in  reserve,  and  rebuke  him  for  his  incHnation  to  faith- 
lessness and  murmuring  under  trials  which  were  com- 
paratively light,  saying  to  him  in  the  words  of  our 


398  EVIL  IN  RESERVE  FOR  THE  SELF-WILLED. 

text:  "If  thou  hast  run  with  the  footmen,  and  they 
have  wearied  thee,  then  how  canst  thou  contend  with 
horses  ?  and  if  in  the  land  of  peace  wherein  thou  trus- 
tedst,  they  wearied  thee,  then  how  wilt  thou  do  in  the 
swelling  of  Jordan?" 

With  the  light,  brethren,  which  Scripture  thus 
throws  upon  the  meaning  of  God's  remonstrance  with 
Jeremiah  in  our  text,  we  can  scarcely  be  at  a  loss  to 
draw  from  it  the  lesson  which  it  was  designed  to  teach. 
It  is,  that  tJiere  are  more  severe  ordeals  in  reserve,  for 
which  we  are  ivhollt/  unprepared,  if  we  faint  under  present 
trials.  There  is  scarcely  any  class  of  persons,  more- 
over, to  whom  tliis  lesson  will  not,  in  some  form,  apply. 
We  all  have  trials  of  one  kind  or  another,  if  not  tem- 
poral, then  spiritual,  and  more  or  less  severe.  Every 
heart  knows  its  own  bitterness;  and  there  is  no  re- 
flecting and  serious  person  who  will  boast,  that  he  is 
without  his  cross.  At  first  sight,  indeed,  it  may  ap- 
pear, that  we  have  scarcely  authority  to  include  spirit- 
ual trials  among  those  to  which  our  text  refers.  But 
this  exception  will  not  be  taken  by  any  who  know 
how  intimately  connected  spiritual  feehngs  are  with 
temporal  providences,  and  how  speedily  and  com- 
pletely the  latter  become  merged  in  the  former  in  the 
Christian's  experience.  Afflictions  lose  their  charac- 
ter, and  are  no  longer  worthy  of  the  name,  when  God's 
grace  hedges  us  in,  and  does  not  allow  temptations  to 
approach  and  assail.  It  is  a  greater  or  less  degree  of 
faithlessness,  which  causes  us  to  sorrow  like  those 
without  hope;  and  when  a  covenant  Father's  hand  is 
recognized  in  tribulations,  we  count  it  all  joy  as  we 
fall  into  them.     This  is  quite  evident  in  the  case  of 


EVIL  IN  RESERVE  FOR  THE  SELF-WILLED.  399 

all  the  holy  men  of  old,  and  especially  is  it  obvious  in 
our  prophet's  history.  It  would,  therefore,  betray  on 
our  part  much  ignorance  of  the  Scriptures,  and  a  very 
superficial  experience,  if  we  did  not  include  spiritual 
trials  among  those  to  which  the  lesson  derived  from 
our  text  applies. 

We  say,  then,  in  the  first  place,  that  we  are  unpre- 
pared to  stand  before  the  bar  of  Christ,  if  zve  Jcnoiv  not 
how  to  meet  the  trials  to  which  our  souls  are  put  in  the 
present  life. 

He  must  indeed  have  sunk  from  the  level  of  a  man 
to  that  of  a  beast,  who  has  not  to  endure  many  severe 
trials  of  his  soul.  Past  reasoning  with,  and  callous  to 
every  appeal,  must  that  heart  be,  which  has  not  been 
subject  to  frequent  painful  experience,  in  view  of  its 
natural  relations  to  God — cut  ofi"  as  it  is  by  them  from 
all  peaceful  access  to,  and  all  blessed  communion  with, 
its  heavenly  Father.  How  degraded,  too,  must  that 
character  be,  who  lives  as  if  he  were  one  of  the  beasts 
which  perish;  who  brings  not  his  soul  to  daily  settle- 
ments with  God — seeing  how  his  spiritual  accounts 
stand,  and  whether  he  is  able  to  meet  his  Judge's  face, 
when  summoned  to  that  last  trial  which  has  been  ap- 
pointed for  all  men  after  death.  But  who  has  even 
subjected  himself  to  such  a  test,  in  his  own  name  and 
strength,  without  shrinking  from  the  conflict,  and 
giving  it  up  in  despair?  There  is  no  one,  who  will 
not  be  afraid,  and  who  will  not  cry  out,  "0  wretched 
man  that  I  am !"  if  he  only  consider.  Fallen  men,  in 
the  faculties  of  memory,  and  feeling,  and  conscience, 
are  endued  with  powers,  which,  if  properly  exercised, 
are  suflicient  to  institute  an  inquiry,  that  will  result  in 


400  EVIL  IN  RESERVE  FOR  THE  SELF-WILLED. 

a  verdict  and  sentence  under  Avhicli  the  stoutest  will 
quail.  In  our  past  life,  how  many  desires  have  we 
entertained,  which  were  contrary  to  the  purity  and 
requirements  and  providences  of  the  great  Searcher  of 
Hearts !  The  testimony,  which  every  man's  memory 
is  able  to  give  on  this  point,  is  enough  to  appal.  At 
the  same  time,  memory  is  sufficiently  conscious  of  its 
own  infirmities,  to  confess  that  it  has  forgotten  much 
more  than  it  has  treasured  up.  While  memory,  too, 
is  such  a  swift  witness,  in  relation  to  wishes  that  have 
been  positively  wrong,  it  will  not  venture,  when  tho- 
roughly awake  and  partially  enlightened,  to  refer  to  a 
single  desire  of  our  heart  in  all  the  past,  which  it  can 
hope  will  altogether  endure  the  scrutiny  of  the  rein- 
trying  God.  Present  feehng,  moreover,  is  aware  of 
much  in  our  souls  that  is  inconsistent  with  the  nature 
and  claims  of  God.  No  man,  who  is  clothed  in  the 
robe  of  his  own  merits,  justifies  the  law  of  God  in  the 
length  and  breadth,  and  heart-inspecting  character  of 
its  requirements,  nor  in  that  micompromising  condem- 
nation of  his  state  and  person,  which  it  pronounces. 
Such  is  the  miserable  phght  into  which  memory  and 
feeling  reduce  us,  as  we  stand  before  conscience,  the 
representative  in  our  souls  of  Him,  in  whose  sight 
"  the  thought  of  foolishness  is  sin." 

In  the  case  of  the  very  best  and  purest  among 
us,  memory  will  not  have  to  confine  itself,  as  a  witness, 
to  inward  feelings;  but  many  cases  of  outward  conduct, 
too,  it  can  testify  have  been  either  short-coming,  or 
forbidden.  Duties,  which  the  divine  law  has  enjoined, 
both  towards  God  and  towards  our  feUow-men,  we 
have  often  either  wholly  neglected,  or  else  imperfectly 


EVIL  IN  RESERVE  FOR  THE  SELF-WILLED.  401 

performed !  How  frequently,  also,  have  we  been  guilty 
of  indulgences,  which  the  same  authority  has  pro- 
scribed, and  which  we  would  be  ashamed  to  have  laid 
to  our  charge  in  the  society  in  which  we  move !  Thus 
memory  testifies,  before  God's  vicegerent  in  our  souls, 
that  the  marks  of  iniquity  can  be  found  without  secret 
search,  on  our  outward  man,  in  our  very  tongues,  and 
upon  our  hands.  The  verdict  of  guilty,  is  conse- 
quently rendered  in  the  court  of  conscience  against 
our  souls;  and  when  we  attempt  to  flee  before  the 
sentence  of  condemnation  which  the  judge  pronounces, 
we  find  the  effort  to  escape  more  than  our  strength  is 
able  to  put  forth.  No  endeavor  to  reform  is  success- 
ful; for  if  with  such  a  vain  intention  we  turn  from 
conscience,  we  hear  it  pursuing  us  in  loud  tones  with 
the  inquiry,  "Who  can  bring  a  clean  thing  out  of  an 
unclean?"  What  future  change  in  our  characters  and 
lives,  too,  can  free  us  from  the  execution  of  that  sen- 
tence which  has  been  already  justly  pronounced  upon 
us,  in  view  of  the  past?  We  feel  that  we  cannot 
escape.  Conscience  gains  upon  us  in  the  race.  We 
hear  the  thunders  of  its  denunciations  growing  louder, 
as  it  approaches,  crying,  "  Cursed  is  every  one  that 
continueth  not  in  all  things  which  are  written  in  the 
book  of  the  law,  to  do  them."  We  every  moment 
expect  to  feel  its  hand  upon  our  shoulder,  apprehend- 
ing us,  that  we  may  be  dehvered  to  the  tormentors. 
In  despair  we  are  about  to  yield;  when  every  nerve 
is  at  once  relaxed,  and  we  are  prostrated  by  the  blow 
which  is  dealt  us  in  the  text:  "If  thou  hast  run  with 
the  footmen  and  they  have  wearied  thee,  then  how 
canst  thou  contend  with  horses?  and  if  in  the  land  of 
26 


402  EVIL  IN  RESERVE  FOR  THE  SELF-WILLED. 

peace,  wherein  thou  trustedst,  they  wearied  thee,  then 
how  wilt  thou  do  in  the  swelling  of  Jordan?" 

This  is  the  voice  of  God,  as  he  makes  us  sensible 
that  we  must  stand  before  his  bar;  as  he  convinces 
us,  that,  if  we  be  incapable  of  escaping  the  trial  and 
judgment  of  his  poor,  weak  representative  in  our  souls, 
we  shall  never  be  able  to  endure  the  searching  of  his 
eye,  when  we  see  him  face  to  face.  Such  a  trial, 
when  brought  beside  any  that  we  have  been  able  to 
hold  in  our  souls,  will  be  worse  than  the  attempt  to 
contend  with  horses,  when  we  have  been  wearied  in 
running  with  footmen.  It  will  be  more  like  an  over- 
flowing flood,  when  contrasted  with  the  land  of  peace, 
in  which  we  had  been  endeavoring  to  construct  for 
ourselves  a  home  and  rest.  The  water  will  be  search- 
ing; it  will  penetrate  every  pore,  and  fill  every  cavity. 
So  we  cannot  flee  from  God's  Spirit,  nor  escape  by 
hiding  in  any  recess  of  our  being,  from  his  presence. 
He  win  possess  us  behind  and  before,  and  lay  his 
hand  upon  us. 

In  the  prospect  of  such  an  interview  with  God,  we 
feel,  that  in  our  despair,  we  shall  vainly  call  upon  the 
mountains  and  rocks  to  faU  upon  us,  and  hide  us  from 
his  presence  and  wrath.  Such  will  be  the  wretched 
condition  in  the  trial  of  the  great  day,  of  all  who  know 
not  how  to  plead  in  answer  to  every  accusation  which 
is  brought,  and  every  sentence  which  is  pronounced  in 
those  courts  which  conscience  holds  in  their  own  souls. 
That  you  may  escape,  then,  beloved,  that  sentence 
of  condemnation,  which  will  never  be  repealed,  it  is 
essential,  that  you  be  empowered  to  arrest  the  judg- 
ment, which  conscience  is  ready  to  pronounce,  when- 


EVIL  IN  RESERVE  FOR  THE  SELF-WILLED.  403 

ever  your  natural  guilt  rises  to  view.  You  must  be 
able  to  offer  that  plea  which  will  silence  conscience, — 
nay,  require  it,  as  the  officer  of  God,  to  acquit  and 
bless  you.  By  faith,  you  must  see  all  your  iniquities 
meeting,  and  laid  upon,  the  crucified  Son  of  God.  You 
must  plead  with  heartfelt  confidence  the  merits  of  his 
name.  With  humble  hand  you  must  clothe  your 
naked  soul  with  his  righteous  robe.  Then,  you  will 
be  able  not  only  to  run  with  the  footmen,  but  to  con- 
tend with  the  horses.  You  shall  not  only  not  be 
wearied  in  this  land  of  peace,  but  you  will  be  able  to 
ride  in  triumph  over  a  swelling  Jordan.  Yea,  you 
will  be  at  peace  both  with  conscience  and  with  God. 
You  will  not  flee  from  either.  You  will  be  the  friend 
of  both.  As  one  who  is  worthy,  and  clothed  in  white, 
you  will  walk  with  each,  as  two  who  are  agreed. 

But  we  proceed  now,  briefly  in  the  second  place,  to 
say,  that  if  we  fail  under  present  temporal  trials,  then, 
if  tve  he  God's  children,  tve  may  expect  others,  tvhich  are 
worse,  and  for  which  toe  are  unprepared. 

How  strikingly  was  this  exemplified  in  the  case  of 
our  prophet!  What  were  the  obscure  residents  of 
Anathoth  as  persecutors,  when  placed  beside  the  king 
and  his  nobles?  They  were  like  footmen  attempting 
to  run  with  horses.  What  was  Jeremiah's  home  in 
his  quiet  native  village,  when  contrasted  with  the  miry 
dungeon,  that  was  in  the  court  of  the  prison  at  Jeru- 
salem? It  was  like  the  land  of  peace,  when  compared 
with  the  overflowing  flood.  What  was  the  painful 
experience,  which  emboldened  him  to  reason  with 
God,  in  our  context,  when  weighed  in  the  balance 
with  the  despair  which  subsequently  wrung  from  him 


404  EVIL  IN  RESERVE  FOR  THE  SELF-WILLED. 

such  dreadful  blasphemies?  Naming  them  together 
is  almost  like  endeavoring  to  measure  the  sufferings 
of  earth  and  men  with  those  of  hell  and  devils.  Even 
so,  beloved,  does  a  faithful  God  deal  with  all  his 
children,  the  brethren  of  the  prophet,  in  every  gene- 
ration. Let  it  not  be  supposed  that  we  question  either 
the  right  or  the  power  of  the  Almighty  to  sanctify 
and  bless  his  people,  by  the  simple  agency  of  his 
Spirit,  through  his  word,  and  without  the  use  of  any 
other  means.  But  he  has  seen  fit,  in  his  wisdom,  to 
adopt  another  method,  as  a  general  law.  And  when 
he  has,  in  any  particular  case,  conmienced  trying  the 
faith  of  one  of  his  sons  or  daughters,  would  it  be  con- 
sistent with  his  own  character  and  glory,  or  with  the 
good  of  the  child,  whose  sanctification  he  designs,  to 
draw  back,  because  he  meets  with  distrust  and  miu"- 
muring?  Ah!  no.  With  no  feeling  of  anger,  with 
no  intention  of  punishing,  but  with  simple  covenant 
faithfulness  and  grace,  his  hand  will  be  stretched  out 
still.  Nor  will  it  be  withdrawn,  until  his  purpose  of 
good  towards  the  wayward  object  of  his  love  is  fully 
realized ;  until  the  blessed  lesson  of  God's  sovereignty 
be  thoroughly  learned ;  until  soul  and  body,  for  time 
and  for  eternity,  are  committed  into  his  hand,  as  into 
the  hand  of  a  faithful  Creator,  to  be  moulded  accord- 
ing to  his  will.  If  the  cup  which  he  offers  us  be 
refused,  we  will  still  be  required,  even  unwillingly,  to 
drink  its  very  dregs.  Unless  submission  and  thank- 
fulness be  then  wrought  in  our  souls,  and  exliibited 
in  our  feelings  and  Hves,  another,  largor  and  more 
bitter,  will  be  placed  in  our  hands;  and  such  will  be 
his  orderings  until,  with  the  same  mind  which  was  in 


EVIL  IN  RESERVE  FOR  THE  SELF-WILLED.  405 

Christ  Jesus,  we  say,  "The  cup  which  my  Father 
hath  given  me,  shall  I  not  drink  it?" 

Every  afflictive  dispensation  of  our  heavenly  Fath- 
er's hand,  then,  under  which  we  repine  and  murmur, 
we  may  rest  assured.  Christian  brethren,  is  but  the 
foreshadowing  approach  of  another,  which  is  darker, 
and  greater,  and  heavier.  Upon  such  occasions,  we 
may,  with  our  spiritual  ears,  hear  him  address  our 
souls  in  the  words  of  our  text :  "  If  thou  hast  run  with 
the  footmen,  and  they  have  wearied  thee,  then  how 
canst  thou  contend  with  horses  ?  And  if,  in  the  land 
of  peacOj  wherein  thou  trustedst,  they  wearied  thee, 
then  how  wilt  thou  do  in  the  swelling  of  Jordan  ?" 

Such,  in  the  main,  will  be  the  painful  character  of 
the  intercourse  between  God  and  our  souls,  until, 
without  any  qualifications  or  reserves,  respecting  our- 
selves, or  any  loved  person  or  thing,  all  our  interests, 
personal  and  relative,  are  forever  resigned  into  his 
hands ;  until  we  cast  all  our  care  upon  him  who  careth 
for  us,  resolved  in  his  strength  to  follow  wherever  he 
leads,  assured  that  we  shall  know  hereafter,  though 
we  know  not  now,  what  he  does;  until  our  habitual 
motto  be,  "Not  our  will,  but  thine  be  done;  as  in 
heaven,  so  on  earth." 

Oh!  how  blessed  is  it  to  walk  with  God,  when 
his  will  and  ours  are  so  thoroughlt/  agreed!  The 
covenant  into  which  we  have  entered  with  him  is 
then  felt  to  be  ordered  in  all  things  and  sure; 
and  its  execution  is  committed,  without  doubting  or 
fear,  into  his  hands.  "All  things,"  we  are  certified, 
"shall  work  together  for  our  good."  We  fear  no  evil. 
Even  the  last  enemy  is  stripped  of  his  terrors.     At 


406  EVIL  IN  RESERVE  FOR  THE  SELF-WILLED. 

our  Father's  command  we  go  forward ;  shrinking  from 
nothing  which  he  bids  us  do  or  endure;  resolved  with 
Job,  that  though  he  slay  us,  yet  will  we  trust  in  him; 
nay,  when  he  actually  takes  from  us  the  life  which  he 
gave,  we  commend,  with  David,  our  spirits  to  his  care ; 
and  declare,  with  Paul,  that  "we  know  him  in  whom 
we  have  believed,  and  that  he  is  able  to  keep  that 
which  we  have  committed  unto  him,  until  that  day." 

But  such  freedom  from  care  is  not  only  blessed; 
but  we  would  remind  you  in  conclusion.  Christian 
brethren,  what  encouragement  exists  for  you  thus  to  trust 
God  in  all  your  present  trials,  and  in  all  ivhich  are  to 
come. 

What  a  broad  and  solid  foundation,  in  the  first 
place,  has  his  grace  laid,  upon  which  you  can  build 
your  plea  in  every  court  which  conscience  holds! 
Could  his  love  grant,  or  your  distrust  require  more  ? 
"He  gave  his  only-begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  be- 
lieveth  in  him,  should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting 
life."  How  all-sufficient !  Let  the  boundless  character 
of  the  Father's  gift  produce  unqualified  confidence  in 
his  intention.  Let  the  infinite  merits  of  the  sacrifice 
dispel  all  fears  of  your  acceptance,  while  pleading 
them  with  heartfelt  reliance.  Repeat  so  loudly  and 
constantly  in  the  ear  of  conscience  the  terms  upon 
which  you  ground  your  plea,  not  only  for  acquittal, 
but  for  approval  and  blessing,  that  that  bhnd,  but 
faithful  legal  judge,  will  himself  become  persuaded  of 
the  equity  of  your  claims,  and  freely  justify  you, 
though  in  yourself  guilty  and  ungodly,  because  you 
believe  in  Jesus.     But  let  your  trust  in  Jesus  be  un- 


EVIL  IN  RESERVE  FOR  THE  SELF-WILLED.  407 

mixed  and  exclusive;  and  your  plea  be  that  which 
springs  from  such  a  trust.  Walk  with  conscience  as 
one  with  whom  you  are  agreed  in  Jesus  Christ:  as 
one,  who  has  been  enlightened  by  the  word  and  Spirit, 
to  teach  you  what  wiU  please  the  God  who  freely 
justifies  you  in  his  Son.  But  attempt  not  to  keep 
pace  in  any  manner  or  degree  with  conscience,  as  one 
whose  dictates,  if  followed,  will  afford  you  some  plea 
for  peace  with  it,  and  the  God  whom  it  represents. 
Such  an  effort  will  be  running  with  a  footman  who  is 
swifter  than  yourself;  and  soon,  horses  will  also  ap- 
pear, contending  in  the  race.  It  will  be  dwelling  in  a 
land  which  will  weary  thee,  even  in  the  false  peace 
which  it  holds  out,  but  which  is  also  subject  to  the 
swelling  of  Jordan.  It  will  be  bribing  God's  officer 
into  a  truce  which  his  Master  will  break;  and  both 
the  parties  to  which  he  will  condemn  and  punish.  In 
whatever  duties  you  discharge,  or  graces  you  exhibit 
then,  let  conscience  walk  with  you  as  one  "having 
not  your  own  righteousness,  but  that  which  is  through 
the  faith  of  Christ,  the  righteousness  which  is  of  God 
by  faith."  "Be  thus  justified  by  faith;  and  you  will 
have  peace  with  God  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ," ' 
both  in  this  world,  and  in  that  which  is  to  come. 

And,  feUow-believer,  while  you  thus  make  Christ 
your  entire  righteousness,  why  should  you  not  also, 
in  the  next  place,  make  him  your  entire  strength?' 
while  you  refuse  to  try  your  speed  with  conscience, 
why  should  you  cross  swords  with  the  providences  of 
God?  why  should  you,  with  any  servile  dislike  of 
God's  orderings,  be  sullen,  or  cheerless  under  them? 


408  EVIL  IN  RESERVE  FOR  THE  SELF-WILLED. 

why  nerve  yourself  under  them  with  stoical  apathy, 
to  endure  what  is  regarded  as  a  heavy  imposition; 
and  be  tempted,  ever  and  anon,  in  unguarded  moments, 
to  reason  with,  and  murmur  against  God?  If  you  can 
trust  God  with  the  greater,  why  not  in  the  less  ?  If 
you  can  commit  to  him  your  spiritual  and  eternal  inte- 
rests, why  not  those  which  relate  to  this  fleeting  world? 
Oh !  tempt  him  not  by  any  infidel  reasonings  respect- 
ing the  mystery  of  his  ways,  to  add  to  the  duration 
or  weight  of  your  troubles ;  to  rebuke  you,  like  Jere- 
miah, in  tones  which  are  to  be  turned  into  overpower- 
ing realities :  "  If  thou  hast  run  with  the  footmen,  and 
they  have  wearied  thee,  then  how  canst  thou  contend 
with  horses  ?  and  if  in  the  land  of  peace,  wherein  thou 
trustedst,  they  wearied  thee,  then  how  wilt  thou  do  in 
the  swelHng  of  Jordan  ?" 

Let  not  such  be  the  hard  character  of  your  in- 
tercourse with  God;  but  commit  your  way  unto 
him,  and  he  will  bring  your  best  desires  to  pass. 
Oh!  is  there  not  abundant  ground  for  this  implicit 
trust?  "He  that  spared  not  his  own  Son,  but 
delivered  him  up  for  you,  shall  he  not  with  him 
also  freely  give  you  all  things?"  Trust  him  then 
unreservedly  with  the  present;  and  "let  the  morrow 
take  care  for  the  things  of  itself."  Murmur  not  under 
any  actual  cross;  "neither  fear  any  evil-tidings,  but 
have  your  heart  fixed,  and  trusting  in  the  Lord." 
Concerning  the  present,  God  wiU  then  say,  "I  am 
with  thee ;"  concerning  the  future,  he  will  promise, 
"I  will  never  leave  thee,  nor  forsake  thee."  You 
will  not  stand  in  fear  of  having  to  contend  with  horses, 
or  of  being  overflowed  by  Jordan;  but  your  unshaken 


EVIL  IN  RESERVE  FOR  THE  SELF-WILLED.  409 

conviction  will  be,  that  "as  your  day  is,  so  your 
strength  shall  be ;"  that  the  everlasting  God  is  one, 
who  giveth  power  to  the  faint,  and  to  them  who  have 
no  might,  he  increaseth  strength.  For  "even  the 
youths  shall  faint  and  be  weary,  and  the  young  men 
shall  utterly  fall;  but  they  who  wait  upon  the  Lord 
shall  renew  their  strength;  they  shall  mount  up  with 
wings  as  eagles ;  they  shall  run,  and  not  be  weary ; 
they  shall  walk,  and  not  faint." 


SERMON  XXYII. 


THE    SINFULNESS    OF    SIN. 


Romans  vii.  13. 
"  That  sin  by  the  commandment  might  become  exceeding  sinful." 

None  acquainted  with  St.  Paul's  epistles,  and  the 
character  of  the  subjects  on  which  he  treats,  will  for 
a  moment  accuse  the  apostle  of  having  a  meagre  vo- 
cabulary; for  he  may  well  challenge  comparison  in 
this  respect  with  any  writer,  inspired  or  profane ;  he 
is  excelled  by  no  author  in  the  variety  and  aptness  of 
his  expressions.  Neither  will  the  believer  consider  it 
short  of  blasphemy  to  suppose,  that  the  language  of 
one,  who  spake  and  wrote  as  he  was  moved  by  the 
Holy  Ghost,  is  not  the  best  adapted  to  convey  his 
conceptions  in  the  way  which  he  prefers. 

Thus  much  is  said  in  order  to  defend  the  apostle 
from  the  charge  of  inelegance  or  impropriety,  when, 
in  the  text,  he  describes  his  subject  by  an  adjective 
derived  from  its  own  name.  For  St.  Paul  was  not 
one  of  those  fastidious  writers  who  would  sacrifice 
sense  to  sound.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  equally  un- 
authorized in  any,  to  regard  him  here  as  consulting 
force  more  than  truth.  God  would  not  allow  one  of 
his  organs  to  affect  a  strength  which  the  reality  would 
not  justify. 


412  THE  SINFULNESS  OF  SIN. 

When,  therefore,  we  are  told  that  sin  is  not  vile, 
loathsome,  evil,  or  any  other  thing  which  on  account 
of  its  character  and  effects  is  detested  and  shunned, 
nor  that  it  is  thus  in  the  greatest  possible  degree ;  but 
when  we  read  that  sin  is  "  exceeding  sinful,"  we  may 
rest  assured  that  there  is  no  vicious  and  mischievous 
attribute  which  it  does  not  possess  in  an  infinite  mea- 
sure ;  that  it  comprises  within  itself  all  that  is  worthy 
of  our  denunciation  or  fear,  that  our  conceptions  of  its 
hatefulness  would  be  most  shortcoming,  if  in  a  single 
view  we  should  be  satisfied  with  regarding,  or  by  a 
comprehensive  word  be  willing  to  describe,  sin  as  any- 
thing else  but  "  exceeding  sinful."  Only  by  itself  can 
sin  be  rightly  and  fully  characterized :  sin,  therefore, 
according  to  our  apostle  in  the  text,  is  "  exceeding  sin- 
ful." How  few  of  us,  my  beloved  hearers,  realize  the 
fact  that  we  are  by  nature  filled  with,  and  character- 
ized by,  anything  so  frightful  and  odious ;  that  if  any 
unfallen  and  holy  creature  should  attempt  to  denounce 
our  race  as  altogether  evil,  he  would  simply  depict  us 
by  a  term  which  we  are  wont  to  acknowledge  as 
justly  applicable  to  ourselves,  and  which  we  admit 
with  so  little  sense  of  shame ;  that  he  would  merely 
say,  "  They  are  sinful !"  Oh !  how  short-coming  are 
the  views  of  sin  in  this  fallen  world!  Here,  all  are 
contaminated.  None  can  charge  another  in  this  re- 
spect with  that  of  which  he  is  not  guilty  himself. 
The  curse  of  ignorance,  too,  which  is  entailed  upon 
sin,  prevents  the  sinner  from  measuring  the  magnitude 
of  the  evil  under  which  he  and  his  fellow-men  labor. 

What  of  it  he  does  perceive,  moreover,  it  is  his 
interest  either  to  conceal  or  palliate,  as  a  disease  for 


THE  SINFULNESS  OF  SIN.  413 

which  he  knows  no  remedy,  and  to  the  very  existence 
of  which  he  had  therefore  better  be  bhnded.  Thus 
with  scarcely  any  compunction  or  feehng  of  degrada- 
tion, it  is  all  but  universal  for  men  to  confess  them- 
selves guilty  of  sin.  Oh !  how  differently  would  the 
matter  be  viewed  in  heaven,  where  all  are  duly  im- 
pressed with  the  majesty,  the  perfection,  and  the 
claims  of  God !  What  profound  and  unalloyed  reve- 
rence and  affection  sway  the  hearts  and  minds  of 
angels  and  archangels  and  the  spirits  of  the  just,  as 
they  surround  the  throne,  veil  their  faces,  bow  their 
heads,  and  cry,  "  Holy,  holy,  holy  Lord  God  of  hosts, 
heaven  and  earth  are  filled  with  thy  glory !"  If  now, 
in  those  unspotted  courts  and  amid  that  holy  and 
elect  host,  it  should  be  whispered,  that  there  was 
one,  who  in  the  hidden  recesses  of  his  heart  and  in  a 
single  wish,  was  not  loyal  and  true  to  Him  whom  aU 
loved  and  served  with  every  affection  and  power — 
whom  all  knew  to  be  infinitely  above  their  praise  and 
to  be  humbling  himself  when  he  had  the  least  respect 
to  it,  what  wonder  and  increduHty  would  such  a  rumor 
at  first  excite  !  What  horror  would  succeed,  if  the 
suspicion  once  gained  a  foothold  in  their  breasts! 
What  a  burst  of  indignation  and  execration  would  be 
heard,  as  the  accusation  was  proved  and  brought 
home  to  the  person  and  conscience  of  the  transgressor ! 
Like  the  waves  of  the  sea,  would  that  countless  host 
be  agitated,  while  a  single  rebel  was  numbered  in  its 
ranks.  There  would  be  tumult  in  heaven  until  the 
traitor  were  ejected.  Not  only,  too,  would  that  glo- 
rious and  countless  number  of  God's  holy  subjects 
thus  regard  the  sinner  and  his  sin ;  but  the  king  of 


414  THE  SINFULNESS  OF  SIN. 

heaven  himself  would  not  he  ahle  to  look  upon  in- 
iquity, nor  to  endure  the  sinner  in  his  sight.  Ere, 
indeed,  with  their  finite  powers,  and  with  that  unsus. 
piciousness  which  is  the  necessary  characteristic  of  a 
perfect  created  nature,  the  angels  would  detect  the 
presence  of  a  sinner  in  their  midst,  God's  omniscient 
eye  would  have  perceived  the  lust  in  its  very  concep- 
tion, and  before  it  had  time  to  bring  forth,  his  just 
indignation  would  have  been  aroused  and  the  guilty 
rebel  would  have  been  hurled  from  his  seat  of  blessed- 
ness. "  I  saw  Satan,"  said  the  Son  of  God,  "  fall  hke 
Hghtning  from  heaven."  All  that  remained  for  those 
who  retained  their  steadfastness,  and  who  had  been 
made  acquainted  with  the  existence  of  the  sin  by  wit- 
nessing its  punishment  was  to  approve  God's  sentence 
and  its  execution,  and  to  cry,  "  Just  and  holy  are  thy 
ways,  0  Lord  God  of  hosts;  who  shall  not  praise 
thee,  for  thou  only  art  holy !" 

We  perceive,  then,  how,  in  heaven,  and  by  those 
who  see  things  as  they  are,  sin  is  viewed.  There, 
and  by  its  inhabitants,  every  descriptive  epithet 
would  be  considered  as  almost  guilty  in  its  deficiency, 
except  that  which  our  apostle  has  adopted.  Every 
heart  is  there  swayed  by  that  same  spirit,  under 
whose  guidance  Paul  wrote ;  and  the  inhabitants  of 
heaven  would  scarcely  be  content  to  portray  sin  in 
any  other  than  its  own  colors — they  would  say  of  sin, 
in  the  words  of  our  text,  "  It  is  exceeding  sinful." 
Oh !  that  all  of  us  might  be  able  in  some  measure  to 
weigh  that  of  which  we  are  guilty,  and  for  which  we 
shall  have  to  give  an  account,  in  the  same  scales  !  that 
we  might  at  least  be  as  much  reproved  for  its  com- 


THE  SINFULNESS  OF  SIN.  415 

mission,  as  the  Holy  Spirit  reproves  those  whom  he 
convinces  of  their  spiritual  necessity,  and  whom  he  is 
drawing  to  Jesus  as  their  necessary  Saviour !  More 
than  this  we  should  not,  perhaps,  in  our  present  weak 
state,  be  able  to  bear.  For,  if  an  unconverted,  unfor- 
given  soul  should  see  sin  with  as  clear  and  penetra- 
ting a  vision  as  God  beholds  it,  he  could  not  endure 
the  sight,  dissolution  would  inevitably  ensue,  and  the 
fire  which  it  would  enkindle  would  be  hell  begun. 

But  do  any  of  you  now  ask,  Is  not  this  exaggerated  ? 
How  is  it  possible  that  sin  can  justly  be  viewed  in 
this  light? 

Attend  then,  to  a  brief  reply  to  this  question,  and 
be  led  with  the  apostle  to  view  sin  as  "  exceeding  sin- 
ful." We  shall  present  the  subject  in  only  a  single 
aspect.  It  shall  be  one,  however,  which  to  the  truly 
convicted  sinner  is  all-engrossing.  For  in  him,  apart 
from  its  relations  to  God,  sin  excites  but  little  con- 
cern. Confining  our  attention,  therefore,  to  this  view 
of  sin,  we  would  say  of  it,  first :  It  is  contrary  to  the 
nature  of  God.  God  is  essentially  and  unchangeably 
holy.  Holiness  in  him  is  exactly  the  same  in  kind 
with  what  holiness  is  in  the  creature.  It  difi'ers  only 
in  degree.  In  the  creatures,  it  is  love  of  God,  but 
love  to  him  hmited  by  the  extent  of  their  capacities ; 
in  him  it  is  love  to  himself,  not  only  pure,  but  infinite 
in  measure  and  depth.  God  is  worthy  of  this  ilhmi- 
table  self-love.  What  it  would  be  sin  in  a  creature  to 
have  for  himself,  it  would  be  sin  in  God  not  to  render 
to  himself.  God,  therefore,  loves  himself  immeasura- 
bly and  unfathomably.  This  love  for  himself  is  what 
the  Bible  calls  light ;  and  it  says  that  "  God  is  light 


416  THE  SINFULFESS  OF  SIN. 

and  in  him  is  no  darkness  at  all."  Until  he  ceases, 
then,  to  be  what  he  has  been  from  eternity,  such  will 
ever  be  the  holy,  that  is,  the  self-loving  nature  of  God. 

Now,  can  any  one  suppose,  that  God  could  bear  in 
his  presence  anything  that  in  this  respect  was  not  the 
spotless  image  of  himself — any  one  who  did  not  un- 
ceasingly love  him  with  the  undivided  powers  of  his 
mind  and  soul  and  strength  ?  Could  such  an  unal- 
loyed nature  endure  what  was  not  a  spotless  reflection 
of  itself?  Accordingly,  we  read,  "He  cannot  look 
upon  iniquity;"  "the  foolish  cannot  stand  in  his 
sight."  "  Sin  is  that  abominable  thing  which  he 
hates."  Need  we  say,  then,  that  the  odious  and  mis- 
chievous properties  of  a  thing  which  is  diametrically 
opposed  to  God  being  what  he  is,  when  he  is  the  hope 
of  all  the  ends  of  the  universe,  and  a  source  of  infinite 
blessedness  to  himself  because  he  is  just  what  he  is, 
that  the  character  of  such  a  thing  must  be  so  unparal- 
leled, that  it  can  be  only  adequately  described  by 
itself? 

Viewed,  therefore,  as  the  enemy  of  God's  nature, 
with  what  justness  and  force  does  our  apostle  cha- 
racterize sin  as  "  exceeding  sinful."  In  what  light, 
fellow  sinner,  does  this  matter  present  you,  as  opposed 
to  the  nature  of  that  "  Lord  who  changes  not  ?" 

You  are  now  prepared  for  our  second  observation 
on  sin,  which  is,  that  it  is  contrary  to  God^s  claims.  It 
would  be  blasphemy  to  suppose,  that  God  would  ad- 
just matters  in  liis  creation  in  such  a  way,  as  not  to 
adapt  them  to  his  own  nature,  which  must  necessarily 
be  the  foundation  and  pattern  of  all  things.  Could  he 
be  infinitely  good,  if  he  did  not  consult  his  own  infinite 


THE  SINFULNESS  OF  SIN.  417 

rights,  which  call  for  all  the  love  of  which  the  creature 
is  capable  ?  Would  it  be  proper  in  one  who  possessed 
perfect  goodness,  to  form  the  intelligent  and  moral 
creatures  of  his  hand  on  any  other  model  than  his 
own  blessed  nature?  or  to  permit  them  to  look  to 
themselves  or  their  fellow  creatures,  who,  from  the 
very  law  of  their  created  being  must  of  course  be  de- 
pendent, insufficient  and  vain,  as  the  source  of  their 
blessedness  ?  Moreover,  in  him,  we  all  necessarily 
live  and  move  and  have  our  being;  to  him  we  owe 
"  life,  breath  and  all  things."  Is  it  not  therefore  his 
due,  that  we  should  love  and  serve  him  with  every 
power  of  our  hearts  and  minds?  It  would  be, 
only  in  accordance  with  his  own  nature  and  with 
the  necessary  nature  of  his  creatures,  if  God  should 
require  us  to  make  him  the  centre  of  every  affection 
and  aspiration  of  our  hearts.  Can  we  suppose,  there- 
fore, that  it  may  be  otherwise  ?  Does  not  his  own 
revelation  assure  us,  moreover,  that  thus  it  is  ?  What 
then,  must  be  thought  of  the  violation  of  claims 
founded  upon  the  very  nature  of  God?  It  is  thought 
an  evil  to  be  punished  by  the  judge,  if  we  trample 
upon  the  trifling  and  ephemeral  rights  of  human 
society ;  but  who  shall  weigh  in  the  balance  the  guilt 
of  disregarding  the  claims  of  Him  who  is  blessed  for- 
ever more,  and  whose  rights  are  necessarily  eternal 
and  immutable  ?  Oh !  fellow  sinner,  when  you  are 
convicted  at  the  judgment  seat  of  having  withheld 
justice  from  one  to  whom  you  are  so  immeasurably 
indebted — how  will  you  appear  ?  where  will  you  hide 
yourself?  what  will  become  of  you?  As  all  unite  in 
approving  the  curse  which  banishes  you  from  his  pre- 
27 


418  THE  SINFULNESS  OF  SIN. 

sence  and  from  the  glory  of  his  power,  will  you 
loathe  your  very  self,  because  guilty  of  that  which  in 
the  light  of  the  last  day  will  seem  to  be  so  "  exceed- 
ing sinful,"  inasmuch  as  it  is  a  disregard  of  the  just 
claims  of  the  Most  High  God ! 

But  we  observe  in  the  third  place,  that  sin  is  con- 
trary to  the  will  of  God.  This  we  should  naturally 
expect.  Can  the  will  of  a  being  so  perfect  and  blessed 
as  God,  be  inconsistent  with  his  nature  and  claims  ? 
That  will  may  often  appear  to  creatures,  so  short- 
sighted as  ourselves,  to  be  arbitrary;  but  it  is  blas- 
phemy to  suppose,  that  it  is  ever  in  reality  founded  on 
anything  except  the  highest  reason  and  wisdom :  and 
where  can  such  reason  and  wisdom  be  discovered  if 
not  in  his  own  nature  and  rights  ?  Besides,  none,  to 
whom  the  will  of  God  has  been  made  known,  can 
for  a  moment  doubt,  that  in  forming  His  will,  God 
has  consulted  both  his  character  and  claims,  and 
made  it  to  accord  in  every  respect  with  each.  What, 
then,  shall  be  thought  of  that  wish  or  act,  or  course, 
which  stands  out,  or  runs,  in  opposition  to  the  will  of 
Him,  who  is  so  blessed  and  so  wise !  what  of  that 
creature  who  is  so  reckless  as  to  conceive  such  a 
desire,  to  perpetuate  such  a  deed,  or  to  pursue  such  a 
path  ?  How  can  sin  be  characterized  except  as  "  ex- 
ceeding sinful,"  when  it  is  the  setting  up  the  will  of 
the  creature  of  yesterday  in  hostility  to  that  of  the 
Ancient  of  days,  who  is  God  over  all,  blessed  for  ever- 
more? 

But  we  proceed  to  observe,  in  the  last  place, 
that  sin  is  "  exceeding  sinful,"  inasmuch  as  it  is  con- 
trary to  the  law  of  God.     In  fact,  it  is  because  sin  is 


THE  SINFULNESS  OF  SIN.  419 

the  transgression  of  God's  law,  that  it  is  sinful.  All 
its  effects,  as  opposed  to  the  nature  and  claims  and 
will  of  God,  might  be  just  as  hateful  and  injurious  as 
they  now  are,  yet  would  it  not  be  justly  considered 
and  punished  as  sin,  unless  God  had  uttered  precepts 
and  thus  made  known  to  the  creatures  his  will.  For 
else  "  who  by  searching  could  have  found  out  God  ?" 
and  it  is  only  to  him  who  knoweth  to  do  good  and 
doeth  it  not,  to  whom  it  is  sin.  It  is  precisely  on 
this  principle,  that  our  apostle  has  pronounced  sin  so 
"  exceeding  sinful"  in  the  text.  God  has  not  left  his 
creatures  without  law.  He  who  was  so  good  as  to 
create  them  would  not  allow  them  to  wander  as  sheep 
without  a  shepherd.  It  is  only  by  the  violation  of 
that  rule  with  which  he  has  supplied  us,  that  we 
creatures  sin.  "  Nay,"  says  St.  Paul,  in  the  context, 
"  I  had  not  known  sin  but  by  the  law :  for  I  had  not 
known  lust,  except  the  law  had  said,  Thou  shalt  not 
covet."  It  is  the  fact,  therefore,  of  such  a  being  as 
God  having  made  known  his  will,  which  gives  to  any 
disregard  of  that  will  on  our  part  its  peculiar  aggraA^a- 
tion,  and  which  renders  it  so  "  exceeding  sinful." 

Moreover,  it  is,  as  we  should  from  the  character  of 
the  case  have  supposed  it  would  be ;  the  law  is  an 
exact  transcript  of  God's  nature,  claims  and  will.  The 
apostle  assures  us  "  the  law  is  holy,  and  the  command- 
ment holy,  and  just,  and  good."  Oh !  in  what  a  light 
does  this  view  of  the  law  present  its  every  transgres- 
sion !  It  was  ordained  for  Hfe ;  it  was  given  us  for 
good ;  it  was  enacted,  that  by  observing  it  we  might 
be  like  the  angels  in  heaven,  that  we  might  ourselves 
be  the  images  of  Him  whom  all  the  holy  worship,  that 


^W  THE  SINFULNESS  OF  SIN. 

the  life  of  God  might  be  enjoyed  in  our  souls.  But 
sin  has  made  us  find  that  which  was  ordained  to  life,  to 
be  unto  death.  Instead  of  our  reaching  the  blessings 
which  the  law  promised  to  all  who  would  obey,  we 
are  brought  by  sin  under  the  curse  wdiich  the  law  de- 
nounces against  disobedience.  Instead  of  our  being 
crowned  with  angels,  we  have,  through  sin,  fallen  into 
the  condemnation  of  the  devil.  Thus  sin,  by  pervert- 
ing what  was  intended,  and  so  well-adapted,  for  our 
highest  and  everlasting  blessedness,  into  our  irrevoca- 
ble curse,  "is  exceeding  sinful,"  and  so  sin  by  the 
commandment  has  become  exceeding  sinful.  Oh ! 
what  a  wreck  is  the  sinner,  as,  accursed,  he  departs  to 
his  own  place  from  the  presence  of  his  God !  With 
what  misery  and  despair  and  guilt  does  he  embark 
upon  the  ocean  of  eternity !  Can  this  be  the  same 
vessel  originally  freighted  with  such  happiness  and 
hope,  and  launched  amid  such  rejoicings  in  the  para- 
dise of  God  ?  At  whose  door  lies  this  frightful  miscar- 
riage ?  Whence  is  it,  that  that  which  seemed  at  first  to 
be  ordained  for  blessing  of  Ufe  now  labours  under  the 
weight  of  curse  and  death  ? 

It  is  sin  which  has  wrought  the  fearful  change.  It 
is  sin  which  has  transformed  the  hving  image  of  God 
into  a  child  of  the  wicked  one.  It  is  sin  which  has 
banished  Adam  and  his  posterity  from  heaven  to  hell. 
It  is  sin  which  has  perverted  the  benevolent  design 
of  God,  and  turned  the  heir  of  righteousness  and 
peace,  into  one  who  hates  his  God,  and  hath  destroyed 
his  own  soul.  Unto  what,  then,  shall  we  compare 
sin?  It  can  only  be  likened  to  itself.  We  can  no- 
where find  terms  to  express  its  terrible  mahgnity  and 


THE  SINFULNESS  OF  SIN.  421 

guilt.  Let  the  apostle,  aided  by  the  spirit  of  inspira- 
tion, and  labouring  to  describe  its  true  nature,  select 
the  word  which  best  conveys  his  conceptions  of  its 
evil  character  and  eftects ;  and  in  our  text,  he  says  of 
sin,  it  is  "  exceeding  sinful." 

My  beloved  friends,  with  what  slight  emotions  do 
we  confess  ourselves  to  be  sinners  in  truth  and  in  the 
sight  of  God  !  Into  what  fearful  ignorance  of  the  true 
character  of  sin  must  we  have  fallen,  to  acknowledge 
its  guilt  with  such  utter  unfeelingness  !  How  faithless 
must  we  be  of  the  light  in  which  it  is  viewed  by 
angelic  and  by  all  spiritual  eyes !  nay,  of  the  very 
terms  in  which  God  describes  and  denounces  it  in  the 
revelation  which  he  has  put  into  our  hands  !  As  a 
sinner,  my  hearer,  you  are  loathed  by  all  the  holy 
hosts  of  God ;  as  such  you  have  arrayed  yourself  in 
opposition  to  the  blessed  and  unchangeable  nature  and 
claims  and  will  and  law  of  God ;  the  fearful  guilt  of 
this  position  you  have  assumed  and  can  never  of  your- 
self shake  off;  you  have  brought  yourself  under  the 
superhuman  power  of  enmity  to  God;  you  are  sold 
under  sin;  your  very  nature,  so  far  as  creature 
strength  extends,  is  hopelessly  and  irreclaimably  cor- 
rupt ;  as  a  furnace  emits  sparks,  so  it  generates  sinful 
thoughts.  What  then  will  the  end  be,  when,  at  his 
judgment  seat,  you  are  brought  into  close  contact  with 
the  sin-consuming  God?  Then,  if  not  before,  you 
will  realize  what  is  meant  by  the  exceeding  sinfulness 
of  sin. 

My  beloved  hearers,  how  greatly  does  our  siihject 
magnify  the  grace  of  God  tvhich  hringeth  salvation! 
The  sinner  is  here  presented  to  us  as  the  enemy  of 
God's  nature ;  as  one  who  has  trampled  upon  God's 


422  THE  SINFULNESS  OF  SIN. 

claims,  disregarded  his  will,  and  violated  his  law.  He 
is  an  object  of  indignation  and  scorn  to  the  inhabitants 
of  heaven — all  the  perfections  of  God  cry  out  that 
vengeance  should  be  dispensed.  It  is  beyond  the 
fallen  creatui'e's  power  to  satisfy  the  demands  of 
divine  justice,  or  to  break  the  habits  and  dominion  of 
sin.  None  could  have  imagined  it  to  be  even  within 
the  infinite  bounds  of  the  divine  capacity  to  devise  a 
redemption  for  those  who  were  hostile  to  all  that  is 
unchangeable  in  God.  Whither,  then,  shall  Adam's 
posterity  look?  Wretchedness  and  gloom  fiU  their 
bosoms;  all  heaven  is  awaiting  their  doom.  But 
when  none  could  pity  or  redeem,  then  God's  arm  was 
made  bare  to  work  out  salvation.  As  nothing  short  of 
this  could  vindicate  the  violated  claims  of  the  divine 
nature  and  law,  God  sent  his  only  begotten  Son  on 
the  humble  and  self-sacrificing  message  of  love  and 
mercy.  "  He  was  made  of  a  woman,  made  under  the 
law,  to  redeem  them  that  were  under  the  law."  Thus 
clothed  in  flesh,  and  found  in  its  sinful  likeness,  aU 
the  sinfulness  of  sin  was  reckoned  his,  and  he  bore  it 
in  his  own  body  on  the  tree. 

When  lifted  up  upon  the  cross,  Jesus  cries  to  his  fel- 
low men  upon  all  the  ends  of  this  fallen  earth, "  Look  unto 
me,  and  be  ye  saved."  When  even  his  own,  to  whom  he 
comes  in  this  humble  gracious  form,  refuse  to  believe,  he 
sends  his  Spirit  into  their  hearts.  The  third  person  of 
the  holy  Godhead  that  cannot  look  upon  iniquity,  is  so 
far  reconciled  to  the  transgressor,  that  he  brings  him- 
self into  immediate  contact  with  sin  that  is  so  exceed- 
ing sinful.  By  his  almighty  agency,  he  breaks  its 
dominion.  He  leads  the  fallen  soul  with  tears  of  re- 
pentance to  its  Saviour's  feet.     He  imparts  a  justify- 


THE  SINFULNESS  OF  SIN.  423 

ing,  saving  faith  in  that  Saviour's  blood.  He  implants 
a  principle  of  peace  within  the  heart.  He  waters  the 
seed,  and  cultures  it  with  forbearing  and  assiduous 
care.  Oh  !  who  can  estimate  the  meekness  and  dove- 
like character  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  as,  with  all  the 
natural  tendency  of  the  holy  Godhead  to  consume  the 
sinner  and  his  sin,  he  yet,  like  a  father  pitying  his 
children,  leads  the  sons  and  daughters  of  the  Lord 
Almighty  to  glory ! 

How  gently  does  he  deal  with  the  exceeding 
sinfulness  of  that  sin,  which  he  finds  in  those 
human  tabernacles,  where  he  has  taken  up  his  dwel- 
ling! reproving  their  errors,  restraining  their  fro- 
wardness,  teaching  their  ignorance,  comforting  their 
despondency,  chastening  their  earthly -mindedness, 
sanctifying  their  affections,  guiding  them  until  death, 
and  making  them  meet  for  the  inheritance  of  the  saints 
in  light !  Oh !  as  he  surrenders  them  into  the  hands 
of  Jesus,  who  shall  present  them  faultless  before  the 
presence  of  his  Father's  glory  with  exceeding  joy — 
will  not  the  innumerable  company  of  angels,  when 
they  remember  that  these  redeemed  were  once  in- 
volved in  all  the  exceeding  sinfulness  of  sin,  when 
they  witness  them  reconciled  to,  glorying,  in  the  per- 
fect nature,  the  adjusted  claims,  the  accomplished  will, 
the  magnified  law  of  the  unchanged  God — will  not 
those  holy  hosts  join  with  one  accord,  to  praise  that 
grace  which  hath  brought  salvation  to  these  souls  ? 

But,  in  conclusion,  we  briefly  ask,  How  shall  tve  es- 
cape if  we  neglect  so  great  salvation  ?  When  we  call  to 
mind  the  mercy  by  which  it  was  prompted,  the  cost 
at  which  it  was  wrought,  the  gentleness  with  which  it 
is  applied,  the  ruin  from  which  it  redeems  us,  the 


424  THE  SINFULNESS  OF  SIN. 

glory  to  which  it  exalts  us ;  does  not  its  rejection  ex- 
ceed in  sinfulness  the  sin  against  which  it  was  pro- 
vided ?  Surely,  comparatively  we  had  not  had  sin,  if 
Jesus  had  not  come  and  spoken  unto  us.  Despising 
the  grace  of  Christ  will  be  a  virtual  endorsing  of  our 
old  sins ;  it  will  be  choosing  sin  with  all  its  sinfulness 
as  our  everlasting  portion,  it  will  be  nerving  ourselves 
as  the  enemies  not  only  of  the  blessed  nature  and 
claims  and  will  and  law,  but  too,  of  the  attractive 
mercy  of  God.  Thus,  the  sinfulness  of  unbelief  is  of 
a  deeper  hue  than  the  exceeding  sinfulness  of  sin 
itself.  Delay  not,  then,  to  wash  away  the  sin  of  un- 
belief in  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ.  Impute  no  unwil- 
lingness to  save,  to  him  who  has  proved  his  readiness 
by  such  humiUation  and  suffering  and  death;  and 
who,  moreover,  has  said  :  "  him  that  cometh  unto  me, 
I  will  in  nowise  cast  out."  Come  now,  to  the  foun- 
tain opened  for  the  unclean,  and  be  cleansed  from  the 
sinfulness  of  sin  and  unbelief,  and  be  clothed  with  the 
righteousness  of  God. 


SERMON    XXYIIL 


THE  CAUSE  OF  SEAMEN. 


Isaiah  xlii.  10. 


"Sing  unto  the  Lord  a  new  song,  and  his  praise  from  the  end  of 

THE  earth,  ye  that  GO  DOWN  TO  THE  SEA." 

Ships  may  well  be  regarded  as  houses — differently 
constructed,  it  is  true,  from  those  which  are  erected 
on  the  land,  made  water-proof,  and  adapted  in  all 
their  parts  for  the  element  in  which  they  are  to  move, 
and  the  object  for  which  they  were  designed.  Their 
crews,  too,  may  be  viewed  in  the  hght  of  domestics — 
gathered,  it  may  be,  from  different  and  mutually  dis- 
tant lands,  but  brought  together  within  the  same 
building,  bound  together  by  important  ties  and  duties, 
and  all  alike  subject  to  the  patriarchal  discipHne  of  a 
common  head.  Why,  in  this  obvious  aspect  of  the 
case,  should  not  the  same  religious  obligations  be  sup- 
posed to  devolve  on  the  inmates  of  a  ship,  as  are 
recognized  and  discharged  by  every  Christian  family 
on  the  land?  The  perils  and  dangers,  from  which 
every  such  floating  household  is  daily  preserved,  are 
proverbial;  and  it  is  alike  their  privilege  and  duty 
not   only  individually  but  collectively^  at  least  with 


426  THE  CAUSE  OF  SEAMEN. 

every  rising  and  setting  sun,  to  glorify  their  Maker 
and  Preserver's  name;  to  give  thanks  for  the  past 
and  present,  and  to  supplicate  the  continued  protec- 
tion of  Him,  who  is  "  a  covert  from  the  storm,"  and 
who  "rules  the  raging  of  the  sea."  Oh  !  if,  in  accor- 
dance with  the  benignant  injunction  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  in  our  text,  those  "  that  go  down  to  the  sea" 
would,  with  a  united  heart  and  voice,  "  sing  unto  the 
Lord  a  new  song,"  with  what  peace  and  love  and  joy 
and  every  fruit  of  the  Spirit  would  each  ship  be 
freighted,  as  she  pursued  her  trackless  way  to  the 
haven  whither  she  would  be  !  What  "  praise"  would 
ascend  like  incense  from  her  decks,  as  she  neared  her 
destined  port,  and  approached  "  the  end  of  the  earth !" 
what  blessings  would  she  not  scatter  in  every  harbor 
that  was  sought,  gladdening  by  sympathy  the  heart  of 
every  child  of  God,  and  illumining  the  dark  places  of 
the  earth ! 

We  thus  see,  beloved  hearers,  that  the  Spirit  who 
moved  the  holy  men  of  old  to  speak,  neglected  not 
that  portion  of  our  redeemed  fellow-creatures,  in 
whose  moral  and  spiritual  interests,  I  would  fain  enlist 
your  sympathies  to  night.  Indeed,  it  would  surprise, 
perhaps,  even  daily  readers  of  the  Bible  to  ascertain  (as 
by  reference  in  a  Concordance  of  the  Scriptures  to  such 
leading  words  as  "  ship"  and  "  sea,"  they  may  readily 
do)  the  frequency  with  which  allusion  is  made  to  those 
"  whose  business  is  on  the  great  waters,"  and  the  pro- 
minence with  which,  as  a  class,  they  are  brought  for- 
ward on  the  sacred  page.  And,  although  it  be  true, 
that  the  truths  and  precepts  of  Revelation  are  so 
worded,  as  to  include  all  possible  "sorts  and  condi- 


THE  CAUSE  OF  SEAMEN.  427 

tions  of  men,"  and,  therefore,  all  who  are  engaged  m 
any  new  profession  or  trade  which  the  progress  of 
science  and  art  may  have  originated,  will  yet  find 
ample  directions  and  encouragements  suited  to  their 
case  in  holy  writ — ^yet  there  are  injunctions  and  pro- 
mises proceeding  from  the  mouth  of  God,  specially 
designed  to  guide  and  cheer  the  mariner,  and  which, 
when  he  applies  to  himself,  yield  that  pecuhar  light 
and  comfort,  which  any  other  behever  would  enjoy,  if 
addressed  by  name — such  as  Peter  must  have  ex- 
perienced when  our  Saviour  said  to  him :  "  Blessed 
art  thou,  Simon  Bar-jona."  It  was,  indeed,  an  entirely 
untenable  position,  that  a  generous-hearted,  but  still 
ungodly  captain  of  a  little  coaster,  whom  we  had 
known  from  our  boyhood,  assumed,  when,  as  we 
urged  upon  him  the  obligation  of  the  Fourth  Command, 
as  a  reason  why  he  should  not  leave  port  upon  the 
Sabbath  day,  he  rephed  :  "  That  was  issued  when  they 
did  not  navigate  the  Atlantic,  but  merely  traded  be- 
tween neighboring  cities  in  the  Mediterranean."  But 
who  sees  not  that  while  the  hard  heart  of  this  sailor 
resisted  the  force  of  this  universal  law,  the  words  of 
our  text  might  easily  have  penetrated  with  melting 
effect  ?  "  Sing  unto  the  Lord  a  new  song,  and  his 
praise  from  the  end  of  the  earth,  ye  that  go  down  to 
the  sea." 

During  that  succession  of  ages  and  centuries,  breth- 
ren, in  which  those  that  were  inspired  lived,  from 
Moses  until  St.  John  the  Divine — as  we  have  seen 
was  intimated  by  this  bluff  friend  of  ours,  navigation 
was  pursued  on  a  limited  scale.  Traversing  some 
inland  sea,  crossing  in  propitious  weather  the  British 


428  THE  CAUSE  OF  SEAMEN. 

channel,  sailing  within  sight  of  the  coast,  these 
were  their  most  adventurous  feats !  How  tedious  and 
perilous,  as  the  Gospels  testify,  was  transportation 
over  the  narrow  lakes  of  Palestine !  It  was  against 
St.  Paul's  advice,  that  one  of  the  frail  and  unwieldy 
barks  of  those  days,  was  exposed  to  the  dangers  of 
the  Mediterranean,  during  the  winter  months;  and 
his  foresight  was  proved  by  the  result.  Indeed,  it  is 
now  almost  impossible  to  conceive  of  the  slow  and 
laborious  process  by  which  merchandize  and  intelli- 
gence were  then  conveyed.  Their  means  of  commu- 
nication would  be  regarded  in  this  age  of  steam  and 
lightning,  not  as  oars,  but  drags.  "  The  Governor 
among  the  nations,"  has,  however,  preserved  one  al- 
most stationary,  that  we,  whom  He  has  favored,  might 
be  able  to  mark  by  it,  as  a  mile-post,  the  progress  with 
which  we  have  been  blessed.  The  Junk,  which  now 
navigates  the  China  Sea,  affords  a  favorable  specimen 
of  the  ships  of  Tarshish,  so  famous  on  the  prophetic 
page. 

But  the  usefulness  of  these  primitive  vessels,  not- 
withstanding their  snail-like  motion,  was  soon  dis- 
played. They  became  the  media  of  communication 
between  different  portions  of  our  race,  whose  mutual 
disgust  with  the  jargon  at  Babel,  had  repelled  each 
other  to  opposite  sections  of  the  globe.  They  ex- 
changed between  tribes  and  lands  intelhgence  of  the 
inventions  and  discoveries  which  had  been  severally 
made,  together  with  the  products  of  varied  soils,  and 
the  ores  which  were  embedded  in  the  earth.  Thus 
was  navigation,  even  in  its  infancy,  the  means  by 
which  a  gracious  providence  partially  removed  the 


THE  CAUSE  OF  SEAMEN.  429 

curse,  which  our  proud  aspirations  and  designs — while 
speaking  a  common  tongue,  and  enabled  to  throw  into 
a  common  stock  the  acquirements  of  each,  towards  the 
improvement  of  the  great  family  of  man — the  curse 
which  our  fallen  presumption  had  called  down.  This 
art  soon  proved  itself  alchymic.  It  became  a  magic 
wand  in  the  hands  of  all  who  wielded  it,  converting 
into  treasure  every  object  that  it  touched.  It  fructi- 
fied the  most  barren  soil,  and  rendered  the  rocks  of 
Tyre  more  luxuriant  than  the  most  spicy  isles.  Through 
it,  Solomon  made  silver  and  gold  at  Jerusalem  as 
plenteous  as  stones.  Nations  learned  to  regard  it  as 
the  source  of  wealth,  and  phed  this  newly  discovered 
art  with  all  their  powers.  It  was  soon  recognized  as 
the  key  of  the  world's  storehouse — so  that  the  people 
from  whom  it  was  wrested  were  impoverished ;  while 
they,  who  exclusively  appropriated  it,  were  universal 
lords.  The  Romans,  with  their  overpowering  legions 
on  the  land,  were  yet  crippled,  and  forced  to  contend 
further  with  their  African  rivals  for  supremacy  on  the 
sea.  The  Holy  Ghost,  even  in  those  early  days,  hath 
shown  his  appreciation  of  the  importance  of  those  who 
navigated  the  waters,  by  frequent  calls  upon  them, 
as  in  our  text,  to  "sing  unto  the  Lord  a  new  song:" 
and  likewise  of  the  value  of  that  future  traffic  between 
lands,  which  was  to  be  carried  on  upon  the  bosom  of 
the  deep,  by  prophesying,  among  the  triumphs  of  Zion, 
its  consecration  to  her  cause — saying,  "  the  abundance 
of  the  sea  shall  be  converted  unto  thee." 

If,  then,  the  art  of  Navigation  in  its  origin  proved 
so  irresistible  an  engine  in  transforming  the  condition 
and  prospects  of  the  world — what  beneficial  results 


430  THE  CAUSE  OF  SEAMEN. 

did  it  produce,  when  it  empowered  the  Portuguese  to 
double  the  Southern  Cape  of  Africa,  and  introduce  to 
each  other  the  continents  of  Europe  and  Asia !  Not 
only,  too,  were  Columbus  and  his  colleagues  viewed 
as  gods  by  the  savage  residents  on  these  shores,  but 
with  scarcely  less  wonder  were  they  looked  upon,  on 
their  return  to  the  old  world !  More  durable  and  im- 
portant, surely,  has  their  discovery  proved,  than  if 
they  had  realized  those  golden  dreams,  with  the  nar- 
ration of  which  they  filled  the  greedy  ears  not  only  of 
European  serfs,  but  of  their  lords.  We,  at  this  mo- 
ment, possess  in  our  civil  and  religious  freedom,  as  the 
boon  of  the  daring  and  discovery  of  these  navigators, 
a  treasure  more  precious  than  gold ;  which  could  not 
have  been  bought — a  treasure,  however,  which,  while 
we  now  enjoy,  and  should  be  thankful  for,  it  requires 
no  sage  to  be  fearful  of,  in  its  future  developments ; 
and  no  prophet  to  foretell,  will  prove  "  evil"  like  "  the 
heart  of  unbelief,"  if  it  be  committed  to  the  keeping 
and  direction  of  fallen  men,  and  be  not  preserved  and 
fashioned  by  the  providence  and  Spirit  of  our  God. 

And,  brethren,  though  there  now  remains  no  portion 
of  the  habitable  globe,  the  discovery  of  which  by  those 
"  who  go  down  to  the  sea,"  would  be  so  brilliant  in  its 
announcement,  nor  so  magnificent  in  its  effects — ^yet 
let  none  imagine  the  profession  of  these  men  has  lost 
any  of  its  consequence.  On  its  continuance  and  suc- 
cess, it  surely  needs  no  profound  political  economist 
to  perceive,  that  the  wealth  and  power  of  Britain  and 
America  depend.  Cut  off  from  it,  the  latter  nation 
would  begin  to  dwindle,  and  the  first  would  sink  at 
once  into  insignificance.     If,  indeed,  by  any  mysteri- 


THE  CAUSE  OP  SEAMEN.  431 

ous  providence,  all  "who  do  business  on  the  great 
waters"  were  engulfed,  it  is  quite  evident,  that  des- 
titution, misery  and  wailing  would  be  general  through- 
out the  civilized  earth.  These  men  are,  humanly 
speaking,  an  essential  source  of  our  entire  present 
prosperity.  Through  their  hands,  not  only  our  bodily 
luxuries  are  received,  but  our  very  intellectual  and 
social  interests  obtain  that  nourishment  which  is  ne- 
cessary to  our  growth  and  advancement  as  a  species. 
And  if  ever  national  jealousies  be  extirpated,  and 
monopolies  abolished,  the  navigators  of  the  deep,  by 
the  blessing  of  God,  are  yet  destined,  in  a  way  equally 
effectual,  though  perhaps  less  striking  than  in  the 
past,  to  unite  men  by  the  close  ties  of  interest  in  a 
lasting  and  universal  peace,  to  surround  the  inhabitant 
of  the  most  unfavored  land  with  the  products  and 
luxuries  of  every  clime,  and  to  further  man  in  the 
progress  of  temporal  knowledge,  refinement  and  power, 
to  a  point,  even  beyond  what  the  earth-bound  hearts 
of  the  advocates  of  "human  perfectibihty"  have  ever 
conceived. 

Such,'  then,  are  the  marvellous,  but  unexaggerated 
effects  which  sailors  have  exercised,  and  may  yet 
exert,  upon  the  destinies  of  the  world !  To  sum  up 
the  amount  of  our  indebtedness  to  them,  would  be  no 
easy  task !  As  a  class,  they  no  doubt  stand  pre-emi- 
nent among  those,  who  have  bettered  the  temporal 
fortunes  of  men ! 

It  is,  nevertheless,  my  hearers,  no  extraordinary 
phenomenon  in  the  moral  world,  for  the  most  useful 
instruments  to  be  neglected  and  spurned.    The  inmate 


432  THE  CAUSE  OF  SEAMEN. 

of  a  splendid  and  luxurious  mansion  scarcely  thinks  of 
the  rough  and  solid  masonry  on  which  his  symmetrical 
pillars  and  ornamental  cornices  rest.  Many  never 
trouble  themselves  with  the  inquiry — what  are  the 
foundations  of  the  superstructure  of  civilization — how 
has  the  wilderness  of  this  continent  been  transformed 
— why  are  wigwams  no  longer  seen,  and  why  have 
savages,  half-clad  with  skins,  picking  their  way  through 
briars  and  thickets,  given  place  to  such  well-provided, 
and  yet  busy  thousands  as  throng  our  streets?  Some 
would  shun,  as  pollution  and  disgrace,  contact  with 
one,  on  whose  calling  depend  their  own  prosperity, 
and  ultimately  perhaps,  their  lives.  This  revulsion, 
too,  is  readily  excused,  when  we  consider  the  unenvi- 
able reputation  for  moral  recklessness  which  these 
sons  of  the  ocean  have  attained. 

But,  are  not  the  followers  of  Jesus  verily  guilty,  in 
having  put  forth  so  little  effort,  to  lift  up  from  their 
degradation  those  who  are  their  felloAV-immortals, 
redeemed  by  the  same  precious  blood  with  themselves, 
and  to  whom  they  are,  humanly  speaking,  indebted  for 
all  they  have  ?  Nay,  nay^  have  not  current  opinions 
and  practices  tended  to  sink  the  sailor  to  his  present 
level  of  wretchedness  and  sin?  In  a  nation  of  un- 
rivaled power  and  wealth,  exalted,  too,  to  the  pinnacle 
she  now  occupies  by  the  labors  and  perils  of  this  same 
hardy  class — justly  famed,  also,  for  its  enterprise  and 
sacrifice  in  doing  good, — has  it  not  been  an  ordinary  oc- 
currence, under  the  name  of  "impressment"  for  the  pub- 
lic service  and  defence,  to  seize  upon  the  seaman  in  the 
streets,  and  tear  him  violently  away  from  the  duties  and 


THE  CAUSE  OF  SEAMEN.  433 

endearments  of  home — exacting  obedience  for  years 
under  terror  of  the  bayonet  and  the  lash  ?  What  kid- 
napping more  unfeeling  and  unjust — what  slavery  more 
galling  than  this? 

Among  ourselves,  too,  is  not  that  officer  a  represen- 
tative of  a  large  class,  who  declared,  that  though  a 
temperance-man  himself,  he  yet  "  gave  his  men  grog 
rations ;  for  if  they  all  became  temperate,  they  would 
leave  the  service,  and  the  Navy  could  not  be  main- 
tained?" Quite  general  is  the  notion,  that  unless 
sailors  be  morally  debased,  they  will  never  encounter 
the  toils  and  exposure  of  their  profession.  Such,  too, 
is  the  power  of  self-interest  in  our  fallen  state,  that 
unless  this  opinion  were  proved  to  be  unfounded,  the 
friends  of  the  seaman  might  well  despair  of  awakening 
any  general  concern  in  his  behalf.  But  even  corporate 
bodies  (generally  denounced  as  soulless)  have  given 
substantial  proof  of  their  interest  in  all  efforts  for  his 
good.  Insurance  Companies,  it  is  well  known,  under 
the  full  persuasion,  that  vessels  are  more  safely  and 
wisely  navigated  by  the  sober  and  religious,  than  by 
the  drunken  and  profane,  contribute  largely  towards 
attempts  to  improve  the  sailor's  intellectual  and  moral 
state.  Notwithstanding,  however,  this  partial  change 
in  public  sentiment — how  much  yet  remains  to  be 
accomplished  in  this  respect.  Long  will  it  be,  we 
fear,  before  the  mariner  is  elevated  to  a  level  with  the 
landsman,  in  our  view.  What  a  burst  of  universal 
indignation  would  be  aroused,  were  it  known  that  any 
of  our  fellow-townsmen  were  drugged,  and  robbed,  and 
sold  into  temporary  servitude!  Like  Admah  and 
Zeboim,  the  names  of  the  offenders  would  soon  be  a 
28 


434  THE  CAUSE  OF  SEAMEN. 

terror  and  reproach.  Oh!  how  httle  sympathy  in 
seamen's  behalf  must  exist — what  erroneous  views  of 
their  claims  and  our  duties  obtain,  since  when  they 
are  the  sufferers,  crimes  of  this  kind  excite  no  notice. 
Thus  almost  excluded  from  the  pale  of  human  kind- 
ness and  protection, — proverbially  generous,  unsuspi- 
cious and  impulsive — ^is  it  wonderful,  that  he  has 
become  the  prey  of  harpies  and  tempters, — the  hard- 
earnings  of  years  filched  from  him  in  as  many  days, 
and  he  revelling,  during  his  long-expected  holiday  on 
shore,  in  debauchery  and  sin?  Breathing  such  an 
atmosphere,  spiritual  disease  is  of  course  inhaled ;  and 
he  goes  forth  to  spread  the  plague.  In  Christian 
countries,  his  company  is  shunned  by  all  who  respect 
themselves,  and  would  fain  preserve  a  good  reputation 
among  their  fellow-men.  In  semi-civilized  and  un- 
evangehzed  China,  riots  of  nominally  Christian  sailors, 
upon  the  Sabbath-day,  have  been  quelled  by  an  armed 
police.  In  the  islands  of  the  sea,  it  is  well  known, 
drunkenness,  profanity,  and  unmentionable  licentious- 
ness have  followed  in  theu'  train.  Missionaries  of  the 
Cross  have  been  effectually  impeded  in  their  efforts  to 
enlighten  and  convert  souls  in  Pagan  lands,  by  the 
withering  example  and  influence  of  these  visitors  from 
Christian  shores.  Amid  the  incomparable  solemnities 
of  his  own  death-bed,  it  was  the  prayer  of  a  collegiate 
acquaintance  of  our  own,  on  an  Indian  isle,  where  he 
had  spent  the  last  ten  years  of  his  life  in  labors  to 
extend  the  knowledge  of  the  Saviour's  name,  that  God 
would  convert  seamen,  from  being  "the  corrupters  of 
the  heathen,  into  the  messengers  of  salvation."  Indeed, 
so  serious  is  this  obstacle  in  the  way  of  the  spread  of 


THE  CAUSE  OF  SEAMEN.  435 

the  Grospel,  that  it  has  begun  now  to  be  agitated, 
whether  it  would  not  be  the  most  effectual  means  of 
advancing  the  Redeemer's  kingdom,  to  establish  a 
Chaplaincy  for  sailors,  and  thus  forestall,  if  possible, 
the  mischief  which  they  occasion,  at  every  missionary 
station  on  a  heathen  coast.  Many  of  these  have 
already  been  instituted,  and  their  influence  for  good 
is  felt. 

Oh!  who  can  compute  the  glorious  effects  which 
would  be  wrought,  if  instead  of  the  moral  pestilence, 
with  which  ships  are  now  generally  laden  as  they 
move  from  port  to  port,  they  were  navigated  by  those 
whose  hearts  had  been  turned  by  the  Spirit  to  comply 
with  the  injunction  in  our  text :  "  Sing  unto  the  Lord 
a  new  song,  and  his  praise  from  the  end  of  the  earth, 
ye  that  go  down  to  the  sea !" 

Would  that  in  each  succeeding  century  of  the  Chris- 
tian era,  they  who  have  been  born  of  the  Spirit,  had 
seconded  aright  the  gracious  wishes  in  the  seaman's 
behalf,  of  Him  who  had  begotten  them  to  a  lively 
hope !  that  they  had  without  fainting  reiterated  in  the 
sailor's  ears  such  exhortations  as  that  in  our  text! 
We  would  not  now  be  deploring  him,  as  sunk  even 
below  the  level  of  his  fallen  fellow-men. 

But  Christians  of  every  name  have  begun  in  the 
present  age  to  mourn  over  their  supineness !  ThQ 
claims  of  this  interesting  and  neglected  class  of  men 
have  excited  attention.  Efibrts  have  been  put  forth 
to  supply  our  past  lack  of  service.  "Homes,"  (to  use 
the  technical,  and,  we  may  well  add,  expressive,  phrase 
— for  these  rovers,  however  dissimilar  in  other  respectSj 
are  yet  in  one  particular  like  the  Son  of  Man,  "not 


436  THE  CAUSE  OF  SEAMEN. 

having  where  to  lay  their  head,")  "homes"  have  been 
erected  for  their  accommodation,  where  they  can  find 
decent  and  comfortable  board,  and  w^here  they  can  be 
safe  from  the  snares  and  violence  of  the  pirates  that 
are  allowed  to  infest  the  land.  "Bethels"  have  been 
reared  in  most  of  the  chief  ports  of  Christendom,  and 
even  amid  the  temples  of  the  false  gods  on  heathen 
ground — where  they  who  have  been  saved  from  the 
perils  of  the  deep  may  render  thanks  to  their  Almighty 
Preserver,  and  learn  under  the  pilotage  of  Jesus  how 
to  escape  the  shipwreck  of  their  souls. 

These  "works  of  faith  and  labors  of  love"  in  their 
behalf,  have  not  proved  in  vain.  The  results  are 
already  far-spread,  important,  and  visible. 

In  several  of  our  National  ships,  only  the  veriest 
fractions  of  the  hundreds  numbered  in  their  crews, 
continue  to  draw  that  daily  allowance  of  liquor,  which 
the  Government  still  so  thoughtlessly  deals  out.  Sailors 
have  thus  proved  that  they  can  refuse  a  bait  when 
offered,  without  the  temptation  of  which,  it  had  been 
supposed,  their  services  could  not  be  engaged.  Nay, 
almost  ludicrous  is  the  terror  displayed  by  many  sea- 
men, on  returning  from  a  voyage,  lest  they  should  fall 
into  the  hands  of  landlords  of  the  old  stamp — wdiose 
houses  they  would  voluntarily  have  sought  a  few 
years  ago.  So  general,  indeed,  among  them  now  is 
the  consciousness  of  their  own  inability  to  cope  with 
those  who  lie  in  wait  for  both  their  bodies  and  souls, 
that,  upon  a  recent  occasion,  when  a  frigate  entered 
the  Chesapeake  Bay,  her  crew  combined  in  the  charter 
of  a  steamboat  to  convey  them  to  Baltimore,  because 
in  Norfolk,  there  was  no  "  Sailor's  Home." 


THE  CAUSE  OF  SEAMEN.  437 

In  every  place,  they  patronise  the  boarding-houses 
which  their  "  friends"  have  erected  for  their  accommo- 
dation. How  unhke  are  the  scenes  which  these  pre- 
sent, from  those  haunts  of  sin  which  they  formerly 
frequented!  How  free  from  drunkenness  and  revel- 
ling! What  decency  and  order  are  visible  in  every 
arrangement!  All  are  supplied  with  papers,  contain- 
ing the  current  news  of  the  day.  Bibles,  Tracts,  and 
other  religious  books  are  placed  in  their  hands.  Well- 
furnished  with  these,  they  go  forth  to  encounter  the 
dangers  of  the  sea,  and  the  still  greater  peril  of  the 
corruption  of  their  "good  manners"  by  "evil  commu- 
nication." 

Large  and  attentive  congregations  of  weather-beaten 
tars,  frequent  the  house  of  prayer.  To  many  of  them 
has  it  proved  truly  a  "Bethel."  They  have  found 
that  God  was  in  the  place.  He  has  appeared,  to  bless 
them  with  the  gift  of  forgiveness  and  sonship.  These 
have  gone  forth,  in  all  their  characteristic  simplicity 
and  generosity,  like  the  apostolic  sailor,  Andrew,  to 
announce  that  they  have  found  the  Messiah,  and  to 
acquaint  others  with  their  Lord.  Revivals  in  these 
Bethels,  and  on  ship-board,  are  no  unfrequent  thing. 

When  once  truly  converted,  too,  how  affecting  is 
the  more  than  ordinary  value  which  the  sailor  attaches 
to  the  holy  Scriptures !  Cut  off  from  the  advantages 
of  the  Sanctuary,  and  many  other  religious  privileges, 
the  word  of  God  is  regarded,  with  no  dainty  stomach, 
but  with  a  hungering  heart,  as  his  "bread  of  life." 
Recently,  one  of  these  sons  of  the  ocean,  who,  like 
Paul,  had  "  thrice  suffered  shipwreck,"  was  observed, 
when  thrown  penniless  and  friendless  on  the  shore,  to 


438  THE  CAUSE  OF  SEAMEN. 

open  the  wet  leaves  of  his  Bible,  which,  upon  each  of 
the  three  occasions,  he  had  succeeded  in  saving,  as 
though  he  could  have  clasped  it  to  his  breast,  with  a 
feehng  of  which  the  infant's  hymn  is  an  expression : 

"  Holy  Bible,  Book  Divine, 
Precious  treasure,  thou  art  mine." 

Nor  are  such  individuals  rare.  They  begin  in  some 
good  degree,  to  leaven  the  lump.  Frequently,  it  is  in 
the  power  of  missionaries  to  testify  of  the  favorable 
change  that  has  occurred  in  the  conduct  and  influence 
"of  crews,  which  in  the  course  of  trade  visit  heathen 
ports.  In  a  great  majority  of  our  vessels  engaged  in 
the  whaUng  business,  all  that  can  intoxicate  is  pro- 
scribed. On  board  some  of  them,  a  strict  observance 
of  the  Sabbath  is  required.  Lately,  in  one  of  these 
ships,  though  previously  for  a  long  while  they  had 
taken  nothing,  several  "monsters  of  the  deep,"  were 
allowed  to  play  around  with  impunity  on  the  Lord's- 
day,  while  the  crew  were  fully  aware  that  a  storm 
before  the  morrow's  light  would  have  dispersed  the 
school.  It  is,  in  short,  the  testimony  of  those  best 
acquainted  with  the  facts,  that  the  most  striking  change 
is  observable  in  the  character  and  outward  deportment 
of  a  large  portion  of  these  outcasts. 

Are  not  these  results  abundant  rewards  of  all  that 
has  been  done  ?  How  many  a  widowed  mother's 
heart  has  been  gladdened  by  the  return  of  a  son,  re- 
claimed for  both  worlds,  whom  it  had  been  beyond  her 
power  to  curb  at  home,  and  whom  she  had  hopelessly 
given  up  for  time  and  for  eternity,  when  he  left  his 
maternal  roof  to  enter  on  a  sailor's  life !     How  many 


THE  CAUSE  OF  SEAMEN.  439 

a  soul  has  been  rescued  from  degradation  and  sin 
through  hfe,  and  from  perdition  beyond  the  grave! 
Yea,  a  beginning  has  been  made,  which  requires  only 
perseverance  in  the  same  path,  to  ensure  perhaps  the 
elevation  of  seamen  to  a  level  with  other  classes  of 
their  fellow-men,  and  to  secure  among  them  a  fair 
proportion  of  those  which  shall  be  saved. 

An  opportunity  is  now  afforded  us  to  co-operate  in 
this  great  work. 

Our  citizens  have  not  hitherto  wholly  neglected 
their  duty  in  this  respect.  Most  self-sacrificing  and 
praiseworthy  individual  effort  has  been  put  forth. 
Societies  have  been  formed,  which,  in  a  limited  sphere, 
have  been  active  and  useful.  Two  small  homes  and 
bethels  have  been  procured,  in  which,  annually,  hun- 
dreds have  been  shielded  from  harm,  and  brought 
within  the  Gospel  sound,  and  other  influences  of  a 
sanctifying  kind.  Many  distressed  seamen  have  been 
relieved,  hundreds  outwardly  reclaimed,  and  several 
hopefully  born  again. 

The  conviction,  however,  has  become  general,  that 
these  separate  and  detached  efforts  are  inadequate  to 
meet  the  call  of  duty.  The  societies  have  been  merged 
into  one ;  and  now,  by  a  common  effort  of  the  seaman's 
friends,  it  is  proposed  to  secure  a  "  Home"  for  these 
destitute  and  neglected  strangers,  which  will  be  ample 
for  their  Avants,  and  compare  well  with  those  other 
institutions  of  benevolence,  with  which  our  fair  city 
is  studded,  and  for  which  it  is  distinguished  throughout 
the  land. 

Brethren,  let  us  obey  this  call  for  help.  You  will 
find  it  to  be  so  considerately  made,  that,  while  the 


440  THE  CAUSE  OF  SEAMEN.  , 

rich  may  cast  in  of  their  abundance  to  further  the 
work,  almost  the  poorest  in  our  flock  can  secure  mem- 
bership in  that  community,  which  has  been  organized 
to  erect  a  "Home"  for  wanderers  who  are  temporally 
and  spiritually  houseless. 

Brethren,  we  would  lure  you  with  no  false  lights. 
According  to  our  reading  of  the  prophecies,  before  all 
of  any  class  or  calhng  are  wholly  sanctified  to  the 
Lord,  there  is  to  come  first  a  great  falhng  away.  Yea, 
"Babylon,"  little  as  she  is  now  feared,  and  great  as 
was  the  blow  which  her  city  and  empire  sustained  in 
the  fifteenth  century,  is  yet  to  renew  her  conquests 
in  the  spiritual  world,  to  rivet  her  chains  of  darkness 
upon  the  souls  of  men,  and  almost  to  exterminate  the 
saints  of  the  Most  High.  And,  when  at  last  her  pre- 
dicted curse  and  overthrow  descends,  we  read,  that 
among  other  classes  which  shall  bewail  her  fate,  "  every 
ship-master,  and  all  the  company  in  ships,  and  sailors, 
and  as  many  as  trade  by  sea,  shall  stand  afar  off,  and 
cry,  when  they  see  the  smoke  of  her  burning,  saying. 
What  city  is  like  unto  this  great  city!  And  they 
shall  cast  dust  on  their  heads,  and  cry,  weeping  and 
wailing,  saying,  Alas !  Alas !  that  great  city,  wherein 
were  made  rich  all  that  had  ships  in  the  sea,  by  reason 
of  her  costliness !  for  in  one  hour  is  she  made  desolate." 
Before,  then,  "  the  abundance  of  the  sea"  is  consecra- 
ted unto  Zion,  we  believe,  that  it,  together  with  the 
produce  of  every  trade  and  land,  will  be  perverted  to 
the  use  and  aggrandizement  of  Bome. 

But  while  we  hold  out  no  immediate  prospect  of 
the  universal  conversion  of  seamen  as  a  class — yet 
among  these,  as  in  every  sort  and  condition,  Jesus 


THE  CAUSE  OF  SEAMEN.  441 

hath  his  redeemed.  And,  in  now  laboring  for  the 
temporal  and  spiritual  salvation  of  sailors,  whose 
debtors  we  are,  we  will  be  able  to  certify  our  Lord, 
when  he  cometh,  that  we  sought  to  glorify  him,  by 
turning  from  sin  even  those  who  are  lost;  and  we 
shall  see  jewels  in  his  crown,  which  received  their 
unearthly  polish,  and  were  set  in  that  bright  diadem, 
by  the  grace  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  conveyed  through 
our  enforcement,  upon  the  most  unpromising  of  fallen 
men,  of  the  exhortation  in  the  text :  "  Sing  unto  the 
Lord  a  new  song,  and  his  praise  from  the  end  of  the 
earth,  ye  that  go  down  to  the  sea." 


SEEMON  XXIX. 


THE    MOURNER   MARKED    AND    SAVED. 


Ezekiel  ix.  2-6. 


"And,  behold,  six  men  came  from  the  way  of  the  higher  gate, 

WHICH  LIETH  toward  THE  NORTH,  AND  EVERY  MAN  A  SLAUGHTER- 
WEAPON  IN  HIS  hand;  and  one  man  AMONG  THEM  WAS  CLOTHED 
WITH  LINEN,  WITH  A  WRITER'S  INKHORN  BY  HIS  SIDE;  AND  THE 
GLORY  OF  THE  GoD  OF  IsRAEL  WAS  GONE  UP  FROM  THE  CHERUB 
WHEREUPON  HE  WAS,  TO  THE  THRESHOLD  OF  THE  HOUSE.  AnD  HE 
CALLED  TO  THE  MAN  CLOTHED  WITH  LINEN,  WHICH  HAD  THE  WRI- 
TER'S INKHORN  BY  HIS  SIDE;  AND  THE  LORD  SAID  UNTO  HIM,  Go 
THROUGH  THE  MIDST  OF  THE  CITY,  THROUGH  THE  MIDST  OF  JERUSA- 
LEM, AND  SET  A  MARK  UPON  THE  FOREHEADS  OF  THE  MEN  THAT  SIGH, 
AND  THAT  CRY  FOR  ALL  THE  ABOMINATIONS  THAT  BE  DONE  IN  THE 
MIDST  THEREOF.  AnD  TO  THE  OTHERS  HE  SAID  IN  MY  HEARING, 
Go  YE  AFTER  HIM  THROUGH  THE  CITY,  AND  SMITE:  LET  NOT  YOUR 
EYE  SPARE,  NEITHER  HAVE  YE  PITY:  SLAY  UTTERLY  OLD  AND  YOUNG, 
BOTH  MAIDS,  AND  LITTLE  CHILDREN,  AND  WOMEN:  BUT  COME  NOT 
NEAR  ANY  MAN  UPON  WHOM  IS  THE  MARK;  AND  BEGIN  AT  MY  SANC- 
TUARY." 

The  vision,  of  which  our  text  forms  a  part,  was 
vouchsafed  in  an  age  of  great  sin  and  affliction.  It 
w^as,  too,  an  age  marked  by  the  Providence  and  Spirit 
of  God.  Between  the  days  of  Moses  and  of  Christ, 
there  never  was  another  period  so  distinguished  for 
the  dispensations  of  the  Divine  hand  and  of  the  Holy 
Ghost.  God  then  moved  the  greatest  king  on  earth 
against  his  people,  to  punish  them  for  their  backsli- 


444  THE  MOURNER  MARKED  AND  SAVED. 

dings ;  and  they  met  with  an  overthrow,  which  had 
hefollen  no  other  nation.  All  these  events  were  mi- 
nutely threatened,  and  afterwards  recorded  by  inspired 
men.  The  few  who  remained  faithful  in  the  midst  of 
the  general  apostacy,  were  also  abundantly  encouraged 
by  promises  of  deliverance  from  the  impending  trou- 
bles, and  by  full  prophetical  disclosures  of  evangelical 
times.  A  bright  constellation  of  inspired  worthies 
shone  forth  on  that  dark  age.  We  need  only  say, 
these  were  the  times,  in  which  Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  Eze- 
kiel  and  Daniel  lived,  besides  many  less  prominent 
Scriptural  characters. 

But  the  precise  stage  of  that  wonderful  period  of 
Jewish  history,  which  our  text  leads  us  to  contemplate, 
is  this : — The  ten  tribes  of  Israel  had  already  been 
visited  for  their  sins,  and  removed  by  their  conqueror 
from  the  land  of  promise.  Judah,  too,  had  suffered 
severely,  although  more  partially.  Jehoiachin,  the 
king,  with  his  leading  nobles,  had  been  carried  into 
captivity;  Jerusalem  and  the  temple  had  been  spoiled; 
"  none  remained  save  the  poorest  of  the  people,"  and 
over  these  Nebuchadnezzar  had  appointed  Zedekiah  of 
the  former  seed-royal  as  his  vicegerent.  Jeremiah  re- 
mained in  his  native,  but  now  tributary  land ;  while 
our  prophet  was  numbered  with  the  captives,  whom 
the  Babylonish  conqueror  had  transported.  These 
heavy  afflictions  taught  wisdom  and  faith  neither  to 
those  who  were  left  at  home,  nor  to  those  who  were 
carried  abroad.  Both  alike  persisted  in  their  rebel- 
lions against  the  Most  High,  and  buoyed  up  themselves 
with  vain  earthly  expectations.  They,  who  resided  in 
Jerusalem,  were  encouraging  themselves  to  throw  off 


THE  MOURNER  MARKED  AND  SAVED.  445 

the  Babylonish  yoke ;  while  the  captives  looked  for  the 
success  of  their  brethren's  revolt,  and  anticipated  their 
own  speedy  restoration.  It  was,  therefore,  a  chief 
duty  of  the  two  faithful  prophets  of  the  Lord,  in  their 
different  spheres,  to  discountenance  and  denounce  these 
false  and  sinful  hopes.  And  the  vision  before  us  was 
one  of  those  revelations,  with  which  Ezekiel  was 
favoured,  in  discharging  the  task  of  discouraging  the 
faithless  expectations  of  his  fellow  captives.  It  was 
granted  to  the  prophet,  and  he  was  charged  to  proclaim 
it,  that  the  aggravated  sin  and  certain  punishment  of 
the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem  might  be  disclosed ;  and 
the  captives  be  induced  no  longer  to  trust  in  the  rescue 
of  their  brethren,  but  to  look  up  to  Him,  from  whom 
alone  cometh  help. 

Let  us  now  briefly  consider  the  vision  itself. 

It  would  appear,  then,  that  Ezekiel  was  sitting  in 
his  house,  with  the  elders  of  Judah  before  him,  when, 
in  his  own  strong  but  inspired  language,  "  the  hand  of 
the  Lord  God  fell  there  upon  him."  Under  its  influence, 
he  saw  a  human  likeness,  formed  as  it  were  of  fire.  The 
prophet's  description  of  this  heavenly  visitant  is  not 
unhke  that,  which  St.  John  gives  of  our  Lord,  when  he 
appeared  to  him  in  Patmos  :  and  there  is  every  reason 
to  beUeve,  that  what  Ezekiel  beheld,  was  intended  to 
represent  the  Son  of  God.  This  wonderful  person 
seemed,  in  the  prophet's  trance,  to  "  put  forth  the  form 
of  a  hand,"  and  taking  him  "  by  a  lock  of  his  head,"  to 
"  lift  him  up  between  the  earth  and  heaven,"  and  "  to 
bring  him  in  the  visions  of  God  to  Jerusalem,  to  the 
door,"  of  the  temple.  There  he  was  commanded  to 
hft  up  his   eyes ;  and  the  first  object  on  which  they 


446  THE  MOURNER  MARKED  AND  SAVED. 

rested,  even  in  God's  house,  and  near  his  altar  was  an 
idolatrous  image,  which,  because  it  provoked  the  Lord 
to  anger,  was  termed  by  the  Spirit  "  Jealousy."  Our 
prophet  was  then  directed  "  to  turn  yet  again,"  that  he 
might  see  even  greater  abominations.  And  behind  a 
wall,  which  would  seem  to  have  been  built  for  the  pur- 
pose of  concealing  the  wickedness,  and  through  a  hole 
which  he  discovered  and  enlarged,  he  beheld  "  por- 
trayed upon  the  wall  around  about,  every  form  of 
creeping  things,  and  abominable  beasts,  and  all  the 
idols  of  the  house  of  Israel."  And  there,  in  these 
"  chambers  of  their  imagery,"  were  discovered  "  seventy 
of  the  ancients  of  Israel"  enveloped  in  a  thick  cloud  of 
incense,  which  they  were  offering  up  before  these 
senseless  pictures.  In  another  direction,  he  beheld 
women  "  weeping  for  Tammuz,"  an  idolatrous  god,  the 
annual  lamentations  for  whose  fabled  departure  were 
accompanied  with  the  most  licentious  and  unmention- 
able crimes.  And  further  in,  between  the  very  "  porch 
and  altar,"  were  seen  "  five  and  twenty"  priests,  wor- 
shipping the  sun,  with  "  their  backs  toward  the  temple 
of  the  Lord,  and  their  faces  toward  the  East."  In  view 
of  these  abominations,  which,  though  beheld  in  vision, 
were  undoubtedly  a  faithful  representation  of  what  was 
actually  occurring;  the  Lord  declared  his  purpose  to 
the  prophet  of  "  deahng  in  fury,"  "  not  to  spare  or  pity 
with  his  eye,"  and  to  be  deaf  "  though  they  cried  in 
his  ears  with  a  loud  voice." 

The  vision  then  proceeds,  in  the  text,  to  represent 
the  way,  in  which  God  would  execute  his  wrath. 
"  Six  men,"  each  "  with  a  slaughter-weapon  in  his 
hand,"  were  made  to  approach.     "Among  them,  was 


THE  MOURNER  MARKED  AND  SAVED.  447 

one  clothed  with  linen,  with  a  writer's  inkhorn  by  his 
side."  This  last,  the  Lord  addressed,  and  said  :  "  Go 
through  the  midst  of  the  city,  through  the  midst  of 
Jerusalem,  and  set  a  mark  upon  the.  foreheads  of  the 
men  that  sigh,  and  that  cry  for  all  the  abominations 
that  be  done  in  the  midst  thereof.  And  to  the  others, 
he  said :  "  Go  ye  after  him  through  the  city  and  smite ; 
let  not  your  eye  spare,  neither  have  ye  pity ;  slay 
utterly,  old  and  young,  both  maids  and  little  children 
and  women :  but  come  not  near  any  man  upon  whom  is 
the  mark ;  and  begin  at  my  sanctuary." 

How  divinely  adapted  was  all  this  to  teach  the  cap- 
tives the  justice,  the  certainty,  the  awfulness  of  the 
punishment,  which  awaited  the  promised  land !  From 
it  they  might  have  learnt,  that  only  Jeremiah,  Baruch, 
and  the  few  others,  who,  with  them,  lamented  over 
the  sins  and  impending  desolations  of  Jerusalem ;  and 
who,  on  account  of  their  faithfulness,  were  despised 
and  persecuted,  were  yet  marked  by  the  All-seeing 
eye,  and  should  escape  the  coming  vengeance.  By  it, 
they  might  have  been  led  in  faith  to  renounce  their 
present  hopes,  and  to  number  themselves  with  that 
"httle  flock,"  who  grieved  over  the  apostacy  of  men 
and  the  just  anger  of  God. 

But  whatever  pecuhar  adaptedness  to  his  contem- 
poraries, our  prophet's  vision  may  have  had,  it  is  not 
without  application  to  every  faithless  and  ill-deserving 
generation  of  God's  visible  people ;  and  it  has  lessons 
of  profit,  if  contemplated  in  faith,  for  the  members  of 
our  Church. 

We  learn,  then,  first,  from  Ezekiel's  vision,  tvhat 


448  THE  MOURNER  MARKED  AND  SAVED. 

abominahle  doctrines  and  practices  may  exist  in  a  true 
outward  Church  of  Christ  1 

There  can  be  no  doubt  of  the  visible  Church  of  the 
Lord  being  absolutely  limited  to  the  Jews,  in  our  pro- 
phet's day.     The  standards  of  this  church  too,  were 
pure.     They  were  contained  in,  and  confined  to  the 
word  of  God.     The  Church,  also,  had  been  miracu- 
lously founded  by  God  himself.     Its  priesthood  had 
been  presented  unbroken  in  the  appointed  line.    Even 
in  the  degenerate  days  of  our  vision ;  and  when  they 
were  nigh  unto  destruction,  yet  did  the  Jews  pride  and 
vaunt  themselves  on  their  ecclesiastical  pretensions, 
"  saying,"  according  to  Jeremiah,  "  the  temple  of  the 
Lord,  the  temple  of  the  Lord,  the  temple  of  the  Lord  are 
these."  And  yet  we  have  been  permitted,  in  the  inspired 
word,  to  accompany  our  entranced  prophet,  and  to  see  the 
errors  and  iniquities  of  this  church  unveiled.     We  be- 
held there,  pubhcly  exposed,  in  the  temple  of  him  who 
has  denominated  himself  "  Holy"  and  "  Jealous,"  the 
image  of  an  idol  god.     We  were  introduced  into  the 
secret  chambers  of  their  imagery,  and  witnessed  the 
ancients  of  Israel,  with  censers  in  their  hands,  before 
forms  of  "  creeping  things"  and  of  "abominable  beasts." 
We  heard  the  weeping  of  the  women  for  the  most  de- 
graded of  the  heathen  idols.     We  saw  the  priests 
turning  their  backs  on  the  Lord,  and  their  faces  toward 
the  East  and  worshipping  the  sun.     And,  as  regards 
the  real  doctrine  entertained  by  these  priests  and  mem- 
bers of  the  Church,  notwithstanding  they  retained  the 
Bible  as  their  professed  creed,  and  boasted  of  them- 
selves as  servants  of  Jehovah,  we  can  be  at  no  loss, 


THE  MOURNER  MARKED  AND  SAVED.  449 

for  that  also  was  revealed  in  the  vision  to  our  prophet. 
They  said,  "  The  Lord  seeth  us  not ;  the  Lord  hath  for- 
saken the  earth." 

Now,  brethren,  let  it  not  for  one  moment  be  sup- 
posed, that  these  were  the  errors  of  an  early  and  un- 
tutored age;  and  that  it  would  be  a  libel  on  the 
enlightened  and  refined  men  of  our  day  to  esteem 
them  as  capable  of  such  sins.  Sin  results  from  nature 
and  not  from  education.  It  is  of  itself  obvious  to 
every  spiritual  mind,  and  it  has  in  substance  often 
been  remarked,  that  while  every  branch  of  science  has 
been  incalculably  improved ;  and  while  in  all  secular 
knowledge  we  are  much  advanced  beyond  ancient  gen- 
erations and  savage  tribes,  yet  that  true  religion,  is 
after  all,  an  experimental,  personal  thing, — that  no  out- 
ward advantages,  nothing  short  of  or  under  the  Spirit 
of  God,  will  avail  to  convert  and  sanctify  the  soul ; 
and  therefore,  that  in  all  material  respects,  every  age, 
from  the  first  to  the  present,  has  stood  on  the  same 
level  before  God,  equally  dependent  for  every  spiritual 
faculty  and  attainment,  upon  the  gifts  of  his  sovereign 
grace.  Let  then  the  Spirit  of  God  be  withdrawn — 
let  us  be  thus  given  up  to  a  reprobate  mind ;  and,  we 
say,  not  only  that  the  men  of  our  day  will  entertain 
feelings  and  lusts  corresponding  to  those  heinous  sins 
of  the  Jewish  church,  which  were  disclosed  in  vision 
to  our  prophet :  but  we  insist  that  under  varied  i3re- 
tences,  they  would  essentially  adopt  the  very  forms  of 
idolatry  and  crime  of  which  Israel  was  guilty. 

This  is  no  fanciful  view.  It  is  supported  by  facts.  The 
Papal  Church  includes  within  her  pale,  men  as  learned, 
as  intelligent  and  refined,  as  can  be  found  in  any  other 
29 


450  THE  MOURNER  MARKED  AND  SAVED. 

quarter;  and  yet  it  is  declared,  in  articles  which  we 
all  receive  as  Scriptural,  and  which  can  readily  be 
proved  to  be  such,  that  that  communion  embraces 
"blasphemous  fables"  repugnant  to  the  Word  "and 
Sacraments  of  God,"  and  that  she  practices  "  dange- 
rous deceits."  It  would  not  require  us  to  pursue  any 
original,  and  what  might  be  supposed  doubtful  train  of 
reasoning,  to  draw  a  strict  analogy  between  Roman 
idolatries,  and  those  superstitions,  that  are  exposed 
and  denounced  in  our  vision  as  common  in  "  the  cham- 
bers of  imagery,"  which  were  partitioned  off,  and 
screened  the  Jewish  Temple.  And  it  is  not  now  a 
spiritual  truth,  which  can  only  be  discerned  by  the 
eye  of  the  renewed  man,  and  which  can  only  be  traced 
out  and  discovered  by  those,  who  are  capable  of  refer- 
ring to  confessed  principles,  their  power  to  produce 
effects, — but  it  is  a  fad^  which  cannot  be  doubted  by 
an  honest  carnal  mind,  that  there  are  within  the 
bounds  of  a  church,  whose  constitution  and  standards 
are  of  the  same  Protestant  character,  nay,  essentially 
identical,  with  our  own — men,  who  sympathise  and  vie 
with  Rome  in  her  unscriptural  doctrines  and  idolatrous 
rites — regarding  (not  to  mention  errors  more  spiritual 
perhaps,  but  equally  important),  bread  and  w^ine  as 
God,  substituting  the  washing  of  water  for  the  regene- 
ration of  the  Holy  Ghost,  inculcating  penance^  and  ad- 
vocating the  invocation  of  saints ;  together  with  reve- 
rence for  images,  paintings,  and  so-called  relics.  There 
are  those  too  within  our  own  pjile,  who  are  allowed 
with  impunity  to  sympathise  with  these,  to  advocate 
their  views  and  conduct,  and  to  bid  them  "  God  speed." 
The  number  of  those  who  might  be  publicly  convicted 


THE  MOURNER  MARKED  AND  SAVED.  451 

before  any  honest  tribunal,  of  countenancing  these 
things,  is  large ;  and  they  are  not  few,  who  evince  no 
shock  at  these  events,  and  who  may  be  charitably 
supposed,  either  as  sympathising  with  those  who  dis- . 
honor  and  disturb  the  peace  of  Israel,  or,  at  least,  as 
having  no  spiritual  sense  to  discern  the  sin  and  inju- 
rious effects  of  such  a  course.  • 

Brethren,  there  is  a  close  connection  between  erro- 
neous doctrines  and  immoral  practices.  If  these 
things  be  tolerated  long  in  our  midst,  the  sanctifying 
and  restraining,  as  well  as  the  enhghtening  spirit  of 
God  will  be  grieved,  and  depart.  We  shall  be  given 
up,  not  only  to  strong  delusion  that  we  should  believe 
a  lie,  but  to  a  reprobate  mind,  in  which  we  Avill  work 
all  kinds  of  uncleanness  with  greediness.  Our  Zion 
will  fall  to  the  same  level  of  moral,  as  well  as  doctrinal 
corruption,  to  which  Rome  has  sunk.  Events  which 
have  transpired  within  the  last  three  years,  and  at  the 
public  disclosure  of  which  the  nation  stood  amazed, 
and  we  were  ashamed  and  bowed  our  head  among  our 
sister  Protestant  churches,  will  become  of  common  oc- 
currence, and  pass  uncensured  and  unnoticed.  Even 
now,  such  reprobates  find  respected  advocates,  and 
these  degrading  sins  will  be  committed  under  the  curse 
of  God ;  and  even  while  our  own  Articles  and  Liturgy 
remain  as  pure  and  Scriptural  as  they  do  at  present. 
No  created  barriers  will  shield  us  from  this  flood  of 
immorality  and  ruin.  Nothing  under  the  Spirit  of 
God  can  give  us  as  a  church,  purity  of  hfe :  and  He 
will  be  righteously  withdrawn. 

And  oh!  brethren,  be  persuaded,  God  has  ways  of 
his  own  for  punishing  such  dishonor  upon  his  name. 
Our  sins  will  not  only  be  thus  in  themselves  our  afflic- 


452  THE  MOUKNER  MARKED  AND  SAVED. 

tion,  but  they  may  call  down  upon  our  heads  further 
and  positive  curses.  See,  to  what  terrible  evils  the 
Jewish  Church  in  our  vision,  was  delivered  up — the 
faithful  few  among  them  mocked  and  persecuted,  and 
the  entire  body  spoiled  and  removed.  Look  at  Israel 
now,  scattered  over  the  face  of  the  earth — a  by-word 
and  reproach  among  every  people.  God  hath  cut  off 
the  natural  branches,  and  grafted  us  in,  who  were 
naturally  of  the  wild  oHve.  Boast  not,  then;  but 
since  "God  spared  not  the  natural  branches,  take 
heed  lest  he  also  spare  not  thee."  Witness  the  so- 
called  Roman  Church,  under  what  a  spiritual  blight 
does  she  now  labor!  To  what  greater  degradation 
and  ruin  is  she  yet  reserved — when  the  few,  who  yet, 
as  we  trust,  belong  to  the  Lord  in  her,  will,  as  sure  as 
prophecy,  be  bidden  to  come  out  of  her;  and  she  shall 
faU  as  Babylon  the  great.  Where  is  the  security, 
where  the  promise  of  God,  that  the  great  body  of 
Protestants  will  not  once  more  become  identified  with 
her;  and  spiritual  darkness  and  bloody  persecution 
characterize  the  times  to  come?  Oh!  tell  me,  my 
hearers,  are  there  no  "  chambers  of  imagery"  in  your 
hearts,  which  should  be  the  temples  of  the  Lord,  and 
which,  if  the  cross  and  the  stake  were  the  only  alter- 
natives, would  disqualify  you  from  protesting  against 
reigning  and  intolerant  error — which  would,  in  truth, 
lead  you  easily  to  ghde  into  the  outward  forms  of 
idolatry,  because  you  already  in  your  ajDfections,  cleave 
to,  and  worship,  those  which  are  no  gods?  Look, 
then,  into  your  hearts.  Examine  their  recesses. 
Who  sits  there  enthroned?  Does  no  creature  receive 
such  honor  there  as  to  provoke  the  Lord  of  that  temple 


THE  MOURNER  MARKED  AND  SAVED.  453 

to  jealousy?  In  those  "inner  chambers,"  are  there 
not  traced  the  forms  of  some  fleshly  lust,  or  of  some 
earthly  object,  the  promptings  of  which  you  follow, 
and  the  thoughts  of  which  engross  your  mind?  If  so, 
then  are  you  prepared  to  fall  a  victim,  either  to  the 
seductions  or  threatenings  of  every  error.  And  oh! 
when  we  think  of  the  little  evidence  of  vital  godliness 
and  entire  devotedness  which  exists  in  our  midst,  and 
indeed  throughout  our  land — what  general  spiritual 
dearth  prevails,  betokening  a  state  in  which  most  are 
following  their  own  and  not  the  things  of  Jesus  Christ, 
what  materials  now  exist,  prepared  to  God's  hand, 
with  which  he  might  "  deal  in  fury,"  should  he  see  fit, 
and  should  he  be  tempted,  by  our  crying  errors  and 
sins,  to  visit  us  in  wrath !  Truly  every  spiritual  mind 
discerns,  that  the  elements  of  our  punishment  are 
already  in  existence!  The  earth  may  at  any  time 
begin  to  quake,  the  mists  to  settle  upon  us,  and  the 
lightenings  to  descend!  May  God,  then,  in  his  sove- 
reign mercy,  avert  from  us  the  evils  which  we  deserve 
— and  which,  from  the  example  before  us,  in  the  vision 
we  have  seen,  secondly,  that  he  sometimes  is  provoked 
to  send  even  upon  a  Church  unquestionably  his. 

But,  thirdly,  we  learn,  too,  lohat  false  hopes  may^ 
under  such  aivfid  circumstances,  he  entertained. 

When  Jeremiah,  at  Jerusalem,  predicted  the  self- 
same evils,  which  Ezekiel  in  the  text  foresaw,  near 
Babylon,  and  when,  as  an  emblem  of  the  servitude  to 
Nebuchadnezzar,  which  awaited  the  Jews,  he  was 
directed  to  put  a  yoke  upon  his  own  neck,  you  all 
remember  how  confidently  a  false  prophet  foretold 
success  and  peace,  and  how  indignantly  he  broke  olF 


454  THE  MOURNER  MARKED  AND  SAVED. 

the  yoke.  It  was  impossible  to  make  the  king,  the 
princes,  or  the  people  believe,  that  trouble  was  de- 
served and  near  at  hand.  They  would  still  trust  in 
lying  words,  saying,  "The  temple  of  the  Lord,  the 
temple  of  the  Lord,  the  temple  of  the  Lord  are  these." 
Yet  God  fulfilled  his  threatening. 

Most  of  us  have  read  the  miserable  delusions  with 
which,  according  to  the  Jewish  historian,  his  country- 
men buoyed  up  their  sinking  hopes  and  fortunes,  on 
the  eve  of  their  final  overthrow.  They  proudly  and 
selfishly  misconstrued  and  misapplied  the  promises  of 
God. 

And  is  not  the  Roman  Church,  at  this  day,  sustained 
and  encouraged  by  the  most  unfounded  views  and 
expectations? 

Brethren,  on  what  are  we  relying  as  the  security  of 
our  beloved  Church?  Is  it  on  Christ's  promise:  "Lo, 
I  am  with  you  alway ;  even  to  the  end  of  the  world  ?" 
There  surely  can  be  no  better  confidence.  But  oh! 
see  to  it,  then,  that  we  are  of  those,  to  whom  the 
promise  is  made.  Point  not,  as  evidence  of  your 
interest  in  this  promised  grace,  to  the  three-fold  order 
of  our  ministry,  and  to  our  inheriting  this  institution 
in  the  regular  way.  For  while  this  Scriptural  form 
of  government  should  be  highly  prized,  yet  we  regard 
it  as  a  Scriptural  truth,  that  that  succession  to  the 
apostles,  which  God  regards,  is  in  a  spiritual,  and  no 
hodily  line, — that  it  consists,  not  in  the  imposition  of 
mens  hands,  but  in  being  apprehended  to  preach  the 
Gospel  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  Nay,  we  are  convinced, 
that  the  so-called  doctrine  of  apostolical  succession 
has  become  a  Dagon  in  our  midst;  and  we  expect, 


THE  MOURNER  MARKED  AND  SAVED.  455 

if  it  be  not  soon  removed  from  its  idolatrous  position, 
it  must  necessarily,  by  a  stronger  than  man's  hand,  be 
prostrated  before  the  ark.  The  spiritually-minded  will 
be  compelled  to  renounce  it  in  some  effectual  way,  if 
they  would  preserve  God's  love  and  blessing. 

Are  any  among  us,  then,  disposed  unscripturally  to 
exalt  ourselves  above  our  fellow-Protestants  in  this 
respect?  While,  for  our  part,  we  would  be  known  as 
utterly  repudiating  the  idea  of  unchurching  other 
Christian  communions — we  would  yet  say  to  our  own 
ultra  brethren — "Be  it  as  your  claim — still  be  not 
high-minded,  but  fear.  Though  your  pretensions  were 
as  exclusive,  and  as  well-founded  as  those  of  the  Jews 
— remember  the  Baptist's  address:"  "Think  not  to 
say  within  yourselves,  we  have  Abraham  to  our  father; 
for  I  say  unto  you,  that  God  is  able  of  these  stones  to 
raise  up  children  unto  Abraham."  And  if  the  so- 
called  doctrine  of  "  apostohcal  succession"  be  the  great 
basis  of  our  hopes  of  escaping  punishment  for  the 
errors  and  iniquities  which  exist  within  our  pale — 
the  present  state  of  the  natural  Israel  is  but  a  picture 
of  our  doom — we  are  involved  in  the  destinies  of 
Rome. — "  Tekel"  is  already  inscribed  upon  our  Church, 
and  it  needs  no  prophet,  but  a  simple  believer  in  God's 
word,  to  declare  that  our  inheritance  shall  be  divided 
and  WTested  from  our  hands.  Let  others  judge  for 
themselves  on  this  point.  We  express  the  fear,  that 
these  false  hopes  but  too  generally  prevail. 

But,  fourthly,  and  lastly,  we  learn  from  our  vision, 
in  the  discharge  of  tvhat  'particular  duty  lies  in  the  worst 
extremity,  our  only  hope  of  escape. 

Among  the  six  armed  ministers  of  God's  holy  ven- 


456  THE  MOURNER  MARKED  AND  SAVED. 

geance,  the  prophet  saw  one  messenger  of  peace.  A 
"writer's  inkhorn"  was  suspended  from  his  side,  and 
he  was  directed  to  "go  through  the  midst  of  the  city, 
and  to  set  a  mark  upon  the  foreheads  of  the  men  that 
sighed,  and  cried  for  all  the  abominations  that  were 
done  in  the  midst  thereof"  And  while  the  six  com- 
panions were  enjoined  to  follow  him  as  their  leader, 
and  beginning  at  the  sanctuary,  to  slay  utterly,  and 
without  distinction,  all  others  whom  they  met,  they 
yet  were  cautioned  against  "  coming  near  any  man 
upon  whom  was  the  mark." 

To  an  unsurpassed  degree,  brethren,  as  you  well 
know,  did  the  saints  of  that  day  weep  over  the  sins 
and  calamities  of  the  Church.  Isaiah  declares,  re- 
specting the  remnant,  that  they  "roared  all  like  bears," 
"  they  mourned  sore  like  doves."  The  "  Lamentations" 
of  Jeremiah  occupy  an  entire  book.  Ezekiel  shows,  in 
our  text,  how  those,  who  sighed  and  cried,  w^ere 
marked  and  saved  by  the  Lord.  And  Daniel,  in  view 
of  "his  own  sin  and  that  of  his  people  Israel,"  sought 
God  "by  prayer  and  supplication,  with  fasting,  and 
sackcloth  and  ashes." 

And  oh!  these  spiritual  distresses,  in  view  of  the 
sins  and  errors  of  their  age,  have  always  characterized 
the  people  of  God.  David  exclaims,  "Rivers  of  waters 
run  down  mine  eyes,  because  they  keep  not  Thy  law." 
And  our  blessed  Lord  himself  wept  over  the  deserved 
and  sure  judgments  of  Jerusalem.  There  is  a  tender- 
ness in  the  new-born  soul  (however  cold,  and  even 
apparently  stern  may  be  the  outward  man,)  when 
contemplating  the  evils  and  punishment  of  sin — 
whether  it  arise  from  love  and  pity  for  the  perishing, 


THE  MOURNER  MARKED  AND  SAVED.  457 

or  from  conscious  participation  by  nature  in  sin's  de- 
filements and  deserts,  (from  which  we  are  only  pre- 
served by  God's  sovereign  help,)  or  whether  it  spring 
from  desires  for  the  glory  of  triumphing  grace, — there 
is  a  tenderness  which  melts  the  heart.  And  he,  who 
can  walk  amidst  the  unclean  and,  unbelieving,  without 
observing  and  pitying  their  spiritual  woes,  betrays  a 
nature  that  is  unrenewed,  a  mind  unlike  that  which 
was  in  Christ  Jesus.  Sighing  and  crying,  therefore, 
in  such  degenerate  days  as  those  of  our  prophet,  were 
esteemed  necessary  signs  and  proofs  of  being  born  of 
God — the  presence  or  absence  of  these  tokens  was 
regarded  as  sufficient  indications  of  one's  spiritual 
state,  of  whether,  or  not,  a  professed  member  of  the 
Church  really  believed,  after  a  justifying,  saving  sort, 
in  Christ  who  was  to  come.  Such,  then,  were  the 
grounds  of  that  order,  which  the  man  in  the  vision, 
who  had  the  writer's  inkhorn  by  his  side,  received. 
The  mourners  in  Zion  were  marked  and  saved,  because 
their  grief  proved  them  to  be  subjects  of  the  renewing 
operation  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  believers  in  the  Son 
of  God. 

How  unerringly,  we  may  feel  assured,  were  the 
furious  soldiery  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  (when  they  sacked 
the  city,  guided  by  the  hand  of  God,  and,  in  fulfil- 
ment of  the  prophet's  vision,)  restrained  from  laying 
hands  on  those,  who  had  the  Holy  Ghost's  invisible 
and  spiritual  mark  !  Then  Jeremiah,  and  all  others 
with  him,  who  were  sealed  by  the  Spirit,  and  who  had 
sighed  and  cried  over  the  dishonor,  that  was  heaped 
upon  the  worship  and  cause  of  God,  realized  the  pro- 
mise and  escaped  unhurt.   Whatever  infamy  they  had 


458  THE  MOURNER  MARKED  AND  SAVED. 

endured — however  their  own  faith  at  times  may  have 
sensibly  failed  them,  and  they  sorrowed  without  hope, 
yet  were  they  ultimately  owned  and  protected  by  the 
Lord. 

Brethren,  ye  who  discern  spiritual  things,  cannot 
but  perceive  sore  evils  in  our  beloved  Church.  They 
are  sufficient  to  call  down  on  us  the  fury  of  God. 
And  whether  your  fears  on  account  of  sin,  or  your 
hopes  in  God's  mercy  through  Christ  prevail  for  Zion, 
the  duty  is  urgent  to  sigh  and  cry.  Thus,  only,  if 
through  anything  done  by  man,  can  our  desolations  be 
averted.  Though  God  be  threatening  and  preparing 
vengeance  for  our  sins,  yet  it  may  be,  that  he  is  not 
so  set  on  our  fall,  as  in  the  case  of  Judah,  when  he 
declared  that  even  such  men  as  Noah,  Daniel  and  Job 
should  not  be  heard  in  their  behalf  Then  weep  when 
you  remember  Zion.  Let  our  requests  be  made 
known  unto  God  for  that  portion  of  his  visible  ark,  to 
which  our  affections  so  closely  cling,  and  which  is  at 
present  the  object  of  our  mingled  fears  and  hopes. 
Who  can  say  but  the  cloud  of  God's  anger  may  pass 
away  ?  "  Then  shall  he  turn  us  again,  and  cause  his 
face  to  shine,  and  we  shall  be  saved." 

Nor  can  Ave  close,  without  being  led  by  our  subject 
to  advert  to  other  sins  and  judgments,  that  beset  and 
threaten  a  single  portion  of  Christ's  Church. 

Brethren,  if  the  man  in  Ezekiel's  vision,  who  had 
the  writer's  ink-horn  by  his  side,  were  commissioned 
to  go  through  the  midst  of  this  house,  and  set  a  mark 
upon  the  forehead  of  every  man,  who  sighs  and  cries 
for  all  the  abominations  that  are  done  in  our  land,  and 
in  the  world,  and  for  the  awful  consequences  of  that 


THE  MOURNER  MARKED  AND  SAVED.  469 

final  judgment  which  is  appointed  and  hastening  on — 
how  many  of  us  would  receive  this  token  and  pledge 
of  safety  for  the  last  day  ?  And  yet,  compared  with 
the  terrors  and  woes  of  that  day,  how  trifling  are  the 
Babylonish  captivity  of  the  Jews,  to  the  calamities 
that  may  befall  any  branch  of  the  visible  Church,  or, 
indeed,  any  or  all  of  the  events  which  occur  in  time  ! 

To  the  few,  then,  whose  consciences  testify,  that 
they  have  this  seal  of  the  Spirit,  we  would  say  :  Yield 
not  to  despair.  Whatever  else  may  fail,  believe  God, 
that  it  shall  be  as  he  hath  said,  and  that  your  spiritual 
and  eternal  life  shall  be  given  you  for  a  prey.  Be 
confident  of  this  very  thing,  that  he  abideth  faithful, 
though  you  believe  not.  And,  while  you  wait  for  the 
coming  of  the  Lord  Jesus  to  publicly  recognize  the 
mark  which  he  hath  already  secretly  put  upon  your 
soul,  he  will  grant  you,  as  one  of  his  mourners,  the 
comfort  of  his  sympathy,  the  consciousness  that  he 
weeps  with  you.  Oh !  this  is  a  blessed  return,  even 
here  on  earth,  for  those  who  sow  in  tears.  While  they 
wait  for  the  final  and  full  harvest,  they  yet  as  an 
earnest  reap  with  rejoicing  these  rich  sheaves. 

But  when  the  vision  of  our  prophet  is  thus  accom- 
modated to  the  Judgment-Day,  the  six  men  with 
slaughter  weapons  in  their  hands,  must  be  supposed 
to  represent  those  angels  of  the  Son  of  Man,  whom  he 
shall  then  send  forth ;  and  who  shall  gather  out  of  his 
kingdom  all  things  that  offend,  and  them  which  do  in- 
iquity, and  shall  cast  them  into  a  furnace  of  fire  :  there 
shall  be  weeping  and  gnashing  of  teeth.  Oh !  on  that 
day,  how  signal  will  be  the  woes  of  those  professed 
people  of  God,  who  were  indifferent  to  that  other  gos- 


460  THE  MOURNER  MARKED  AND  SAVED. 

pel  which  is  preached,  and  to  the  consequent  sin  and 
spiritual  misery  which  abound !  Let  such  now  trem- 
ble and  repentj  as  they  hear  the  future  injunction  of 
the  King  to  the  ministers  of  his  wrath  :  "  Begin  at  my 
sanctuary." 

But  in  conclusion, — is  it  so,  that  the  time  is  coming 
"when  judgment  shall  begin  at  the  house  of  God? 
And  if  it  first  begin  at  us,  what  shall  the  end  be  of 
them  that  obey  not  the  Gospel  of  God  ?"  Oh !  that 
all  of  us,  fellow-travellers  to  the  judgment-seat  of 
Christ,  might  now  begin  to  sigh  and  cry  on  account  of 
sin ;  and  be  led  with  weeping  and  supplications,  to  the 
feet  of  him,  who  taketh  it  away !  Then,  indeed, 
should  we  experience  the  blessing  of  those  who  mourn, 
— we  should  "be  comforted."  We  would  be  sealed  with 
the  Spirit's  mark.  The  earnest  of  redemption  would 
be  ours.  And  God  would  hereafter  receive  us  to 
himself,  and  wipe  away  all  our  tears. 


SERMON  XXX. 


THE  LORD  OUR  RIGHTEOUSNESS. 


Jeremiah  xxiii.  6. 


"  TniS  IS  THE  NAME  WHEREBY  HE^ALL  BE  CALLED,  ThE  LoRD  OCR 
RIGHTEOUSNESS." 

Our  fallen  race,  are  more  indebted  to  our  Saviour, 
Jesus  Christ,  than  we  know,  or  are  ingenuously  dis- 
posed to  feel  and  own.  The  most  scriptural  and 
spiritual  mind  among  men  is  but  little  aware  of  the 
extent  of  our  obligations  to  our  incarnate  God.  They 
will  never  be  wholly  revealed  to  our  finite  souls,  but 
will  be  unfolding  themselves  throughout  unending- 
ages.  Oh !  ye,  to  whom  Jesus  is  not  the  one  alto- 
gether lovely,  briefly  consider  how  thoughtless  and 
ungrateful  you  have  been.  And  to  this  end,  raise 
scripturally  high  your  conceptions  of  the  purity  and 
righteousness  of  God.  Immaculate,  before  whom 
angels  and  archangels  veil,  and  cry  holy;  in  whose 
sight  the  heavens  are  not  clean ;  to  whose  eyes  the 
thought  of  foohshness  is  sin;  who  is  of  purer  eyes 
than  to  behold  evil,  and  cannot  look  upon  iniquity; 
whose  righteousness  hath  no  communion  with  unright- 
eousness, who  wiU  by  no  means  clear  the  guilty; 
whose  judgment  of  a  long  time  lingereth  not ;  who  is 
a  consuming  fire  to  the  sinner's  soul.     Now,  fellow- 


462  THE  LORD  OUR  RIGHTEOUSNESS. 

man,  summon  thy  soul,  though  it  be  the  first  time  that 
it  hath  been  ever  tried  for  one  moment,  even  now, 
before  the  bar  of  conscience,  and  let  secret  memory, 
and  present  feeling  be  the  witnesses ;  and  do  you  not 
plead  guilty  in  the  sight  of  this  heart-searching,  rein- 
trying  God  ?  Now,  ask  thyself,  why  is  it  that  I  feel 
not  the  mighty  wrath  of  this  holy  God  ?  Look  now 
(with  no  censorious  but  sympathizing  feeling),  upon 
thy  neighbor,  in  whom,  however  upright  may  have 
been  his  course  compared  with  other  men,  you  have 
yet  observed  some  imperfection,  and  who,  if  honest, 
would  accuse  himself  of  as  much  and  heinous  secret 
sin  as  you  know  in  the  recesses  of  your  bosom,  yourself 
to  be  guilty  of.  and  say,  wherefore  is  he  blessed  ? 

Call  to  mind  some  scene  or  place  in  which  sinners 
meet  to  drink  and  game,  to  steal  or  murder,  to  curse  or 
lie,  to  pollute  the  Sabbath  of  the  Lord,  to  incite  and  help 
each  other  unto  sin  in  any  of  its  many  shapes,  and 
say,  why  doth  God  forbear  to  strike  ?  In  one  com- 
prehensive view  embrace  the  world, — the  whole  flesh 
of  which  has  corrupted  itself, — remember  the  many 
instances  of  extortion,  injustice,  deceit,  revenge,  ma- 
lignity, hypocrisy,  Avhich  you  may  personally  have 
known,  or  of  which  history  tells,  and  the  more  num- 
berless still  which  eternity  will  alone  unveil,  and  say, 
why  is  the  Lord  still  loving  to  every  man,  and  why 
doth  he  so  kindly  uphold  the  earth  in  his  everlasting 
arms  ?  Why  is  the  earth  so  full  of  the  mercy  of  the 
Lord  ?  How  do  mercy  and  truth  thus  meet  together  ? 
How  may  righteousness  and  peace  thus  kiss  each 
other?  Ah!  faithless  fellow-man,  the  reason  why 
you  and  all  flesh  are  reprieved,  lieth  not  in  thee  or 


THE  LORD  OUR  RIGHTEOUSNESS.  463 

thine,  but  in  Jesus,  who  is  called  •'  The  Lord  our  right- 
eousness." It  is  he,  the  condescending  incarnate  Son 
of  God,  who  hath  interposed  his  body,  and  been 
pierced  with  the  spear  of  the  just  avenger.  It  is 
Jesus,  who,  with  his  own  robe  of  righteousness  hath 
mantled  the  earth,  reflecting  to  heaven  an  image,  bright 
as  the  original,  and  under  its  shadow  protecting  sinful 
flesh  from  the  burning  heat  of  the  holiness  of  God.  It  is 
Jesus,  who,  while  he  is  thus,  in  our  probationary  state, 
an  overshadowing  cloud  to  the  whole  earth,  protecting 
it  from  the  rays  of  avenging  justice,  being  the  propitia- 
tion for  the  sins  of  all, — doth  offer  each  for  himself  a 
robe  of  righteousness,  and  hath  called  each  of  us  poor 
naked  sinners  thus  to  be  clothed  upon:  that  when  his 
earth-encircling  canopy  of  grace  shall  be  cleft  in  twain, 
and  the  Lord  descend  again  in  glorious  majesty  to 
judge  and  slay  the  world,  his  followers  may  be  found 
with  the  accepted  plea,  with  the  impenetrable  shield 
of  the  righteousness  of  God  in  Christ. 

"  His  name  shall  be  called  the  Lord  our  righteous- 
ness." Surely  in  Jesus,  dear  brethren,  must  abound 
the  righteousness  which  God  requires,  thus  to  suffice 
for  the  whole  world  of  sinful  flesh  !  How  may  we 
raise  in  your  minds,  ye  who  have  never  dwelt  in  your 
thoughts  and  affections,  much  on  the  righteousness  of 
Christ,  some  idea  of  its  excellence  and  extent?  If 
angels  fail,  and  desire  to  look  into  this  deep  thing, 
how  much  more  shall  we,  who,  in  our  natures  are 
lower  than  the  angels,  and  who  are  blind  through  sin, 
come  short !  With  what  grateful  adoration  should  we 
look  on  Jesus,  when  the  holy  God  accepts,  approves 
and  lauds  his  work !     "  For  he  received  from  God  the 


464  THE  LORD  OUR  RIGHTEOUSNESS. 

Father  honor  and  gloiy,  when  there  came    such   a 
voice  to  him  from  the  excellent  glory,  This  is  my 
beloved  Son,  in  whom  I  am  well  pleased."     "  Unto 
the  Son  he  saith, — Thy  throne,  0  God,  is  forever  and 
ever :  a  sceptre  of  righteousness  is  the  sceptre  of  thy 
kingdom :  thou  hast  loved  righteousness  and  hated  in- 
iquity ;  therefore  God,  even  thy  God,  hath  anointed 
thee  with  the  oil  of  gladness  above  thy  fellows."    God 
the  Father  is  love,  and  doth  admire  love.     How  then 
did  he  approve  the  ^'^mind  which  was  in  Christ  Jesus; 
who  being  in  the  form  of  God,  thought  it  not  robbery 
to  be  equal  with  God,"  and  who,  when  there  was  no 
eye  to  pity  and  no  arm  to  save  all  flesh  which  had 
corrupted  itself,  and  when  the  Father  looked  for  some 
mighty  righteous  one  who  should  be  compassionate  for 
dying  man,  said  quickly,  "  I  delight  to  do  thy  will,  0 
God,"  who  "  was  made  in  the  likeness  of  sinful  flesh ; 
and  for  sin  condemned  sin  in  the  flesh ;"  who  consented 
to  be  "  made  sin  for  us,  though  he  knew  no  sin :  that 
we  might  be  made  the  righteousness  of  God  in  him." 
And  now,  look  as  we  may,  at  the  mysterious  person 
of  the  incarnate  Son,  while  working  out  a  righteous- 
ness with  which    to    clothe  the  world,  how  are  we 
struck  with  its  sufficient,  boundless,  magnitude  and 
worth !     Here,  first,  is  the  man  Christ  Jesus,  meriting 
by  works  the  unclouded  presence,  and  the  unmixed 
blessing  of  his  God — yet  consenting  to  be  more  desti- 
tute than  the  birds  of  the  air  which  have  nests,  and 
than  the  foxes  which  have  holes,  yea,  to  be  a  worm 
and  no  man,  despised  of  men  and  rejected  of  the  peo- 
ple :  delighting  still  to  do  the  Father's  will !  But  here, 
have  we,  considering  Jesus  simply  as  a  man,  only 


THE  LORD  OUR  RIGHTEOUSNESS.  465 

creature  righteousness,  the  most  perfect,  it  is  true,  in 
any  world,  obeying  and  deserving,  while  destitute  and 
forsaken — yet  here  have  we  Jesus  only  as  a  man. 
But  though  this  be  the  most  perfect  righteousness, 
which  the  Godhead  could  conceive  of  as  existing  in 
its  handy  work,  or  which  personal  union  with  God, 
never  to  be  dissolved,  could  enable  any  creature  to 
effect,  yet  have  we  not  a  righteousness  which  justifies 
God  in  justifying  the  ungodly.  "His  name  shall  be 
called,"  not  the  man  "  our  righteousness,"  but  "  the 
Lord  our  righteousness."  On  the  merits  of  his  divine 
nature  was  grounded  the  plea  of  Jesus,  for  the  accep- 
tance of  that  work,  which  he  performed  to  purge  our 
sins.  It  was  that  nature,  which,  in  its  hohness,  has 
been  the  great  object  of  admiration  and  of  praise  to 
all  that  have  lived  godly  upon  the  earth,  from  the  time 
of  Adam  until  now — which  has  caused  all  saints,  while 
weeping  over,  and  repenting  of  their  own  unnumbered 
shortcomings,  to  lift  up  their  minds  in  wonder,  and 
exclaim  with  David,  "but  Thou  continuest  holy,  0 
Thou  worship  of  Israel;"  and  with  Daniel,  "righteous- 
ness belongeth  unto  Thee,  but  unto  us  confusion  of 
face," — it  was,  brethren,  that  nature  which  presented 
its  righteousness  as  a  substitute  for  man's. — But  what 
is  time,  with  its  cycles  of  centuries,  compared  with 
the  eternity  which  passed  before  ?  If  we  regard  God 
in  his  holiness,  as  changing  not,  only  during  time,  we 
compute  but  a  brief  hour  of  his  goodness,  when  un- 
numbered years  precede.  Yea,  it  was  that  nature  of 
the  person  of  "the  Lord  our  righteousness,"  which, 
throughout  an  etprnity,  as  long  as  that  which  is  to 
come,  had  been  clothed  with  the  beauty  of  a  hohness,, 
30 


466  THE  LORD  OUR  RIGHTEOUSNESS. 

that  was  without  spot,  or  wrinkle,  or  any  such  thing — 
it  was  that  nature,  which  brought  the  worth  of  its  right- 
eous character,  infinite  in  past  duration,  filling,  swaying, 
and  beautifying  divine  attributes  and  affections,  and 
presented  it  in  the  stead  of  the  world's,  to  God.    Yea, 
it  was  that  nature,  the  praise  of  which,  is  shortcoming 
and  degrading,  when  we  simply  hold  it  up  as  having 
been  everlasting  in  its  holiness,  or  when  we  conceive 
of  it  as  aught  else  than  absolutely  unchangeable  in  its 
kind, — which  characterizes  and  magnifies  Jesus  as  the 
Redeemer  of  our  race.     Possessed  of  this  nature,  our 
Lord  emptied  himself  of  its  claims  and  glories,  and 
was  clothed  in  flesh  to  work  out  righteousness  for  us. 
And  we  fearlessly  appeal,  even  to  the  common  sense 
of  man,  and  say,  that  while  with  such  humility  and 
self-denial  as  God  only  could  endure  and  display, — 
for  the  Father  to  forsake  his  co-equal,  compassionate 
and  incarnate  Son,  and  to  inflict  the  deserved  pain  of 
sin  on  Christ,  was  greater  expression  of  his  hatred 
against  sin,  than  if  "  hell  had   enlarged  herself,  and 
opened  her  mouth  without  measure;    and  the  glory 
and  multitude  and  pomp  of  us  who  rejoiced  in  iniquity 
had  descended  into  it."     And  to  endure  the  holy 
Father's  wrath  against  sin,  in  a  nature  far  above  every 
law  and  penalty,  and  with  merits  such  as  Christ's, 
sustained  the  law  and  made  it  honorable,  though  the 
sins  of  a  creature  world  were  remitted.     For  to  obey, 
while  enduring   such   undeserved  deep   suffering  as 
Christ's,  presented  a  sacrifice  of  righteousness  more 
worthy  of  the  Father's  acceptance,  than  Adam  and 
his    children,  if  they  had  never  ^llen,   could  have 
offered  unto  God.     Wherefore,  hell  may  be  escaped 


THE  LORD  OUR  RIGHTEOUSNESS.  467 

and  heaven   obtained,  by  sinful  souls,  through  the 
sufferings  and  merits  of  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 

Yes,  "  God  may  be  just,  and  yet  the  justifier  of  him 
which  believeth  in  Jesus."  "  The  blood  of  Jesus  Christ 
cleanseth  us  from  all  sin."  "  Grace  may  reign,  through 
righteousness,  unto  eternal  life,  by  Jesus  Christ  our 
Lord."  "By  the  obedience  of  this  One  shall  many  be 
made  righteous."  And,  finally,  "  Blessed  be  the  God 
and  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  hath  blessed 
us  with  all  spiritual  blessings  in  Christ,  to  the  praise 
of  the  glory  of  his  grace,  wherein  he  hath  made  us 
accepted  in  the  Beloved :  in  whom  we  have  redemption 
through  his  blood,  the  forgiveness  of  sins,  according  to 
the  riches  of  his  grace." 

Brethren,  as  we  see  from  these  citations,  in  magni- 
fying this  great  truth  beyond  comparison  or  degree, 
we  have  a  scriptural  example.  Paul  was  no  timid 
preacher.  His  was  no  half-way  faith,  whatever  may 
be  true  of  some  of  his  successors  on  this  subject; 
neither  was  he  mad,  but  spoke  forth  the  words  of 
truth  and  soberness,  even  as  he  was  moved  by  the 
Holy  Ghost.  His  was  an  experience  which  made  him 
duly  sensible  of  the  power  and  extent  of  sin,  and 
made  him  cry,  "0  wretched  man  that  I  am,  who 
shall  deliver  me  from  the  body  of  this  death  ?"  He 
too  was  privileged,  through  Jesus  Christ  his  Lord, 
to  overcome,  and  for  it  he  thanked  God;  and  the 
fortress  of  the  high  fort  of  the  walls  of  his  pride  and 
self-righteousness  he  desired  to  bring  down,  lay  low, 
and  bring  to  the  ground,  even  to  the  dust.  He  had  no 
confidence  in  the  flesh :  though  he  might  also  have 
had    confidence    in   the    flesh.     If  any   other   man 


468  THE  LORD  OUR  RIGHTEOUSNESS. 

thinketh  that  he  might  rest  in  the  flesh, — Paul  "more." 
"  Circumcised  the  eighth  day,  of  the  stock  of  Israel, 
of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin,  an  Hebrew  of  the  Hebrews ; 
as  touching  the  law,  a  Pharisee ;  concerning  zeal,  per- 
secuting the  church ;  touching  the  righteousness  which 
is  in  the  law,  blameless."  Surely,  if  any  other  man 
might  desire,  on  the  great  day  of  trial,  to  be  found  in 
any  degree  in  himself,  and  to  be  clothed,  at  least  in 
part,  somewhat,  or  it  may  be  in  some  hmited  or  modi- 
fied sense,  with  his  own  righteousness, — Paul  "more." 
Yet,  what  saith  he  ?  Why,  that  he  suffered  the  loss 
of  all  things,  stripped  himself  of  CA^ery  filthy  rag  of 
his  righteousness,  and  came,  in  his  own  estimation 
and  feehng,  as  he  was  in  fact,  a  naked  sinner,  "to 
win  Christ,  and  to  be  found  in  him;  not  having  his 
own  righteousness,  which  is  of  the  law,  but  that  which 
is  through  the  faith  of  Christ,  the  righteousness  which 
is  of  God  by  faith."  And  there  was  too  much  peace 
and  joy,  aye,  and  sanctification  too,  in  beheving,  and 
there  was  too  much  gratitude  to  Jesus  for  the  inesti- 
mable blessings  conferred  by  his  merits  and  precious 
blood-shedding,  for  Paul  to  glory  in  aught  else  than 
in  the  cross  of  Christ. 

All  this  was  a  characteristic  of  this  Apostle's 
individual  caUing  and  personal  Christianity.  And, 
as  regards  his  mode  of  proclaiming  the  glorious 
gospel  of  the  grace  of  God  wliich  was  committed 
unto  him,  he  had  so  utterly  abohshed  the  whole 
body  of  self  and  pride,  that  he  preached  not  himself, 
but  Christ  Jesus  the  Lord.  He  knew  nothing  among 
men,  save  Jesus  Christ  and  him  crucified.  Neither 
would  he  allow  any  other  gospel  to  be  preached; 
knowing  that  no  other  foundation  could  be  laid  than 


THE  LORD  OUR  RIGHTEOUSNESS.  469 

was  laid,  which  was  Jesus  Christ.  He  hesitated 
not  to  curse  himself,  his  fellow-apostles,  and  even  an 
angel  from  heaven,  or  all  and  any  else  who,  whether 
from  ignorance,  or  unconscious  personal  pride,  or  from 
fear  of  offending  the  ungodly  self-sufficiency  of  the 
Pharisee,  or  the  unrenewed,  should  preach  another 
Gospel  than  that  which  had  been  preached.  They  of 
the  circumcision  which  believed,  might  be  astonished, 
and  doubt  whereto  this  might  grow;  nay,  they  that 
were  of  the  circumcision  might  contend.  But  doth 
Paul  seek  to  please  men  ?  For  if  he  yet  pleased  men, 
he  should  not  be  the  servant  of  Christ. 

The  gospel  which  was  preached  of  him  was,  not  after 
man;  for  he  neither  received  it  of  man,  neither  was  he 
taught  it,  but  by  the  revelation  of  Jesus  Christ.  And 
so  blessed  and  effectual  had  been  its  working  in  the 
Apostle's  own  soul,  to  the  banishment  of  doubt  and 
disorder,  and  all  the  awful  consequences  of  self-depen- 
dence and  sufficiency,  and  to  the  dispensing  of  an 
authorized  and  full,  and  satisfying  peace  and  hope, 
that  when  he  saw  those  to  whom  he  ministered,  uncon- 
sciously serving  that  hard  task-master  the  law,  to 
their  own  most  inconceivably  grievous  suffering,  and 
to  the  most  unworthy  robbing  of  his  rightful  glory  of 
our  God  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  he  held  up  before 
their  eyes  him,  in  whom  dwelleth  all  the  fullness  of  the 
Godhead  bodily ;  and  reminded  them  earnestly  that 
they  were  complete  in  him,  in  whom  also  we  are  cir- 
cumcised with  the  circumcision  made  without  hands, 
in  the  putting  off  the  body  of  the  sins  of  the  flesh, 
by  the  circumcision  of  Christ;  who,  while  we  were 
dead,  hath  quickened  us  together  with  him,  and  hav- 


470  THE  LOKD  OUR  RIGHTEOUSNESS. 

ing  forgiven  all  trespasses,  hath  blotted  out  the  hand- 
writing of  ordinances  which  was  against  us,  which 
was  contrary  to  us,  and  hath  taken  it  out  of  the  way, 
nailing  it  to  his  cross;  and  having  spoiled  principali- 
ties and  powers,  he  hath  made  a  show  of  them  openly, 
triumphing  over  them  in  it.  With  the  truth  of  the 
Christian's  glorious  calling  unto  liberty,  so  awfully 
severe  to  pride,  but  so  fully  consohng  to  self-empti- 
ness, deeply  impressed  on  his  own  heart,  and  strikingly 
prominent  in  his  ministry  of  the  Word,  doth  the 
Apostle  call  on  believers  to  rejoice  in  the  Lord,  say- 
ing, "  Rejoice  evermore,  in  everything  give  thanks ; 
for  this  is  the  will  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus  concerning 
you.  For  God  hath  not  appointed  us  to  wrath,  but 
to  obtain  salvation  by  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who 
died  for  us ;"  "  wherefore  comfort  yourselves  together, 
and  edify  one  another,  even  as  also  ye  do." 

Having  thus  shown  that  the  righteousness  of  Christ 
meets  all  our  wants  before  God's  bar,  and  that  we  are 
sustained  by  an  inspired  preacher,  in  unceasingly  in- 
sisting on  this  truth,  we  ask,  what  is  its  worth — what 
are  its  uses  in  the  believer's  case  ? 

And  now,  self-loathing  Christian  brethren,  who, 
made  conscious  of  your  nakedness,  have  heard  the 
counsel  of  Christ,  and  have  bought  of  him,  without  mo- 
ney and  without  price,  "  white  raiment,  that  ye  may  be 
clothed,  and  that  the  shame  of  your  nakedness  might 
not  appear" — as  ye  walk  with  Jesus,  with  what  white 
and  glistering  garments,  "  so  as  no  fuller  on  earth  can 
white  them" — with  what  glorious  apparel  are  ye  clad ! 
Hath  not  the  Father  called  the  Son  "  the  Lord  our 
Righteousness?"  This  is  his  baptismal  name;  this  the 


THE  LORD  OUR  RIGHTEOUSNESS.  471 

nature  and  the  essence  of  his  disclosure  of  himself  to 
us,  and  of  our  connection  with  the  Lord ;  he  is  the 
believer's  righteousness. 

But,  behold,  I  show  jou  a  further  mystery.     If, 
in  one   aspect,   Christ  is  thus   the  behever;    so,  in 
another,   is    the    believer    Christ.      Oh!    surely    our 
prophet,  who  spake  as  he  was  moved  by  the  Holy 
Ghost,  went  not  too  far,  when  he   calls  Jerusalem, 
which  is    the    Church  of  the    living    God,    dwelling 
safely  under  the  shadow  of  "  that  Branch  of  right- 
eousness, which  should  grow  up  unto  David,"  when  he 
calls  her  "the  Lord  our  righteousness."  Yea,  brethren, 
in  the  estimation  of  God,  in  Scripture,  and  in  fact, 
the  most  perfect  mutual  substitution  occurs  between 
Jesus  and  his   true  invisible  church.     "This  is  the 
name  wherewith  she  shall  be  called,"  declares  Jere- 
miah,   "the    Lord    our   righteousness."     Decked    by 
Christ's  gracious  hand,  with  His  own  spotless  royal 
robe,  the  true  Church  is  to  reign  with  Christ,  she  is  to  be 
treated  as  the  Lord  himself,  nay,  the  inspired  prophet, 
as  we  see,  hesitates  not  to  denominate  her  as  "  the 
Lord."   How  glorious,  then,  is  the  Church,  the  Bride  ! 
"  Thou  art  beautiful,  0  my  love,  as  Tirzah ;  comely 
as  Jerusalem;  terrible  as   an  army  with   banners." 
How  radiant  with  the  glory  of  a  divine  righteousness 
is  the  Church,  the  "  spiritual  house"  of  the  living  God, 
partaking  of  the  preciousness  of  her  own  living  cor- 
ner-stone, which  is  chosen  of  God.     And  if  this  be 
true  of  the  whole  spiritual  house,  it  is  so  of  the  house 
in  its  every  part,  of  each  "lively  stone"  of  which  the 
house  is  built.     If  the  whole  "body  of  Christ"  be 
''glorified,"  and  "glistering,"  so  each  member  thereof 
partakes  of  the  nature  of  the  whole ;  and,  though  it  will 


472  THE  LORD  OUR  RIGHTEOUSNESS. 

not  be  so  to  the  eye  of  sense  nntil  Jesus  shall  ap- 
pear, and  we  shall  be  like  him,  yet  in  truth  it  is  so 
now,  and  so  it  is  seen  by  the  eye  of  faith. 

Then,  fellow-believer,  let  faith  and  truth  conquer 
sense  and  appearance  of  falsehood,  and  appropriate  to 
yourself  the  righteous  life  of  God's  dear  Son.  IIow 
righteous  are  you,  beloved,  who  dwell  in  Christ,  and  are 
clothed  with  Him,  in  Avhom  He  dwells,  and  not  only 
whose  sinful  blackness  is  washed  clean  by  His  blood, 
but  whose  creature  dimness  is  made  bright  with  His 
glory !  How  perfect  in  Christ  Jesus  do  you  stand !  His 
righteousness  is  given  you.  By  this.  His  free  gift,  it 
becomes  yours.  All  His  righteous  acts  are  reckoned 
yours.  Though  you  personally  performed  them  not, 
yet,  by  His  gift,  you  are  personally  possessed  of  them. 
All  that  Jesus  did,  you  may  have.  You  may  refuse 
to  mix  faith  with  what  you  hear,  you  may  be  even 
surprised  at  being  thus  addressed ;  but.  Christian  soul, 
though  poor,  tempted,  yielding,  despondent  in  yourself, 
yet  as  incorporated  in  Christ,  how  faithfully  hast  thou 
withstood  the  devil  in  the  wilderness  and  overcome ! 
Surely  you  may  face  the  fierce  accuser  on  the  final 
day,  when  you  have  already  repelled  him  in  the  wil- 
derness, and  forced  him  to  leave  the  field.  How 
uncompromising  is  your  spirit  of  holiness,  that  you 
not  only  love  righteousness  and  hate  iniquity  in  self, 
and  rebuke  sin  in  those  who  refuse  to  follow  with 
you,  but  cannot  endure  it  in  the  zealous  Peter !  How 
dost  thou  spend  thy  life  in  doing  good,  healing  the 
sick,  the  blind,  the  deaf,  the  lame,  raising  the  dead, 
and  preaching  the  Gospel  to  the  poor !  How  long  are 
thy  fasts — forty  days  and  forty  nights!    How  con- 


THE  LORD  OUR  RIGHTEOUSNESS.  473 

tinned  are  thy  prayers,  throughout  the  night;  and 
how  earnest,  too — sweating  great  drops  of  blood! 
How  dost  thou  love  the  brethren,  bearing  with  their 
ignorance  and  sins,  enlightening  and  edifying  them  in 
the  most  holy  faith — praying  more  earnestly  for  them 
than  for  the  world,  that  they  may  be  kept  from  the 
evil!  How  resigned  to  deep  suffering — feeling  and 
saying,  "  Father,  not  my  will,  but  thine  be  done !" 
Above  all,  how  meek  wast  thou  in  the  judgment-hall; 
how  forgiving  on  the  cross — dying  for  the  salvation  of 
thy  murderers,  and  praying, "  Father,  forgive  them ;  they 
know  not  what  they  do !"  Such  is  your  righteousness ; 
and  who  may  say  it  is  not  heavenly,  nay,  divine  ? 
How  glorious  is  your  righteousness  !  how  blessed  are 
you  in  your  Divine  character !  With  what  heavenly 
benignity  doth  such  perfection  fill  thy  soul!  With 
what  joy  do  you  rejoice  in  the  Lord  your  right- 
eousness ! 

With  searching  look,  I  seek, — but  little  or  no  such 
joy  is  seen;  and  may  we  not  charitably  fear  it  is  not 
felt  ?  If  there  be  any,  who,  while  they  have  not  the 
righteousness  of  Christ,  mourn  not  after  a  godly  sort, 
on  account  of  their  spiritual  destitution,  and  as  the 
deserted  spouse  give  no  sleep  to  their  eyes,  nor  slum- 
ber to  thek  eyelids,  seeking  and  calling  for  their 
Beloved,  the  chiefest  among  ten  thousand,  who  is 
altogether  lovely;  we  have  nothing  now  to  do  with 
such,  save  to  say,  you  have  either  left  your  first  love, 
or  whatever  name  you  have,  or  whatever  other  hope 
you  may  lawfully  possess,  you  have  no  part  or  lot  in 
Christ,  but  are  in  the  gall  of  bitterness,  and  under 
the  bonds  of  iniquity.     But,  if  there  be  any  here 


474  THE  LORD  OUR  RIGHTEOUSNESS. 

"who  mourn  because  of  their  unsatisfied  hunger,  and 
thirst  after  a  full  and  conscious  possession  of  this 
righteousness,  ill  would  it  become  even  a  glorified 
saint,  whose  tears  are  wiped  away,  to  forget  the  rock 
whence  he  was  hewn,  or  the  hole  of  the  pit  whence 
he  was  digged,  and  thus  abruptly  and  harshly  to  pass 
you  by, — and  much  less  a  miserable  mourner  like 
yourself;  and,  further  still,  where  Jesus  hath  pro- 
nounced you  blessed,  and  said  you  shall  be  filled. 
But,  oh !  with  a  hearing  ear  and  with  an  understand- 
ing heart,  give  heed !  Wish  for  no  unauthorized  quar- 
ter from  a  fellow-worm,  lest  on  you  and  him  con- 
suming wrath  descend ;  but  gladly  accede  to  our  gra- 
cious Master's  terms.  How  often  has  your  spirit  sunk, 
and  you  in  secret  mourned,  "Why  art  thou  cast  down, 
0  my  soul,  and  why  art  thou  disquieted  within  me  ?" 
Afilicted,  mourning  soul,  God  "hath  not  appointed 
you  to  this,  but  to  obtain  salvation  through  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ."  "  Put  now  thy  trust  in  God ;  and  thou 
shalt  yet  praise  him,  who  is  the  health  of  thy  counte- 
nance and  thy  God."  What  aileth  thee,  0  soul? 
Discontented  with  thy  present  earthly  condition  ? 
Denied,  thwarted,  bereaved,  deceived,  poor,  solitary, 
or  crossed  in  any  temporal  way  ?  Beware,  beware,  if 
thou  yieldest  much  to  griefs  like  this,  and  learnest  not 
soon  in  whatsoever  state  thou  art,  therewith  to  be  con- 
tent,— this  will  prove  but  the  first  stage  of  a  protracted 
and  more  awful  suffering.  It  is  more  profitable  for 
thee  to  cut  off  a  right  hand,  to  pluck  out  a  right  eye, 
than  that  thy  wdiole  body  should  be  cast  into  hell-fire. 
Be  careful  for  nothing.  Utterly  slay  and  spare  not, 
every  wish  or  murmur,  which  riseth  up  in  opposition 


THE  LORD  OUR  RIGHTEOUSNESS.  475 

to  the  will  of  Christ,  which  is  your  present  state, — 
and  only  groan,  earnestly  desiring  to  be  clothed  upon 
with  the  righteousness  of  Christ.  Seek  first  the  king- 
dom of  God  and  his  righteousness.  Prize,  above  all, 
"the  Lord,  your  righteousness;"  and  other  objects, 
only  as  you,  with  prayer  and  self-denial,  think  they 
will  tend  to  the  fuller  possession  and  enjoyment  of 
him. 

But  doth  strong-besetting-sin,  and  galling  slavery  to 
Satan  cause  you  to  go  mourning  all  your  days;  and 
is  deliverance  your  dearest  wish,  your  highest  aim? 
Now,  in  one  sense,  poverty  of  spirit  is  a  prerequisite 
to  Gospel  faith, — it  is  useless  to  clothe  the  warm,  to 
fill  the  full, — you  must  be  stripped  of  all  your  filthy 
rags,  ere  you  will  or  can  buy  of  Christ  the  white  rai- 
ment of  his  righteousness.  Need  no  further  lesson; 
but  be  taught  by  the  past  your  utter  nakedness.  Most 
utterly  destroy  all  self-conceit.  Loathe  all  praise  of 
men.  Be  unwilling  to  be  esteemed  possessed  of  any 
personal  goodness.  And  while  you  outwardly  reject 
this  bait  of  Satan,  hide  it  not  under  the  tongue,  do  not 
secretly  keep  it  still  within  thy  mouth.  Further  still, 
mourn  over,  and  acknowledge  the  defect  even  of  your 
faith  in  Christ;  almost  fear  that  you  will  soil  or  lose 
his  unspotted  robe  of  righteousness.  Be  poor  in  spirit, 
naked  in  soul, — and  you  shall  be  enriched  and  clothed 
with  "the  Lord  your  righteousness." — Thus  clad,  your 
jealous  Lord  will  not  be  so  jealous  of  yourself,  whom 
you  before  idolized, — and  will  not  be  provoked  to  show 
you  so  painfully  the  insufficiency  and  sinfulness  of  your 
forsaken  idol,  self  Trampling  on  self,  and  trusting  in 
the  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  he  will  prove  your 


476  THE  LORD  OUR  RIGHTEOUSNESS. 

shield,  ward  off  darts,  and  cause  you  to  triumph  in  the 
Lord  your  righteousness.  With  what  strong  cords  of 
gratitude  and  love  will  you  then  be  bound  to  the  Lord 
your  righteousness?  And  if,  as  must  needs  be,  of- 
fences come,  what  godly  sorrow,  and  repentance  will 
they  straightway  w^ork, — what  carefulness,  yea,  what 
clearing  of  yourself,  yea,  what  indignation,  yea,  what 
fear,  yea,  w^hat  vehement  desire,  yea,  what  zeal,  yea, 
Avhat  revenge !  Li  all  things  you  will  labor  to  approve 
yourself  to  be  clear. 

Now,  how  great  and  high  are  the  possible  attain- 
ments of  those,  who  are  thus  armed  and  clothed  upon, 
we  say  not, — let  each  make  trial  for  himself  This 
much  we  know,  that  when  we  are  weak,  then  are  we 
strong.  And  that  Scriptural  saints,  who  were  clothed 
from  head  to  foot  only  with  the  righteousness  of  Christ, 
and  who  acted  in  this  faith,  making  it  outwardly  ap- 
pear, that  they  inwardly  gave  not  to  themselves  but 
to  Jesus  Christ,  the  entire  praise,  soared  much  higher 
than  the  groveling,  proud,  self-righteous  Pharisee. 

How  did  the  power  of  Christ  rest  upon  the  first 
martyr,  Stephen,  whose  fiith  in  Jesus  was  single  and 
strong!  With  what  humble  confidence  did  this  saint, 
with  his  bruised  body  weltering  in  blood,  commend 
his  departing  spirit  to  the  Lord  Jesus'  care!  How 
much  more  did  he  love  his  murderous  enemies  than 
himself, — making  his  last  prayer  for  them:  "Lord, 
lay  not  this  sin  to  their  charge."  How  prevalent  his 
prayer,  when  the  young  persecutor,  injurious  Saul, 
at  whose  feet  lay  the  dying  martyr's  clothes,  and  who 
was  consenting  to  his  death,  had  first  shown  forth  in 
him  the  long-suffering  of  God,  and  became  a  chosen 


THE  LORD  OUR  RIGHTEOUSNESS.  477 

vessel  unto  Christ,  to  bear  his  name  before  the  Gen- 
tiles, and  kings,  and  the  children  of  Israel !  0  mourn- 
ing and  aspiring  saint,  rejoice  in  the  Lord,  thy  right- 
eousness! Thus  will  you  go  on  from  strength  to 
strength,  thus  will  you  be  changed  into  the  image  of 
the  glory  of  the  Lord,  from  glory  to  glory,  even  as  by 
the  Si^irit  of  the  Lord.  Thus  wiU  you  exalt  and  glo- 
rify the  Lord.  Thus  will  your  treasure  be  above,  and 
your  affections  be  set  where  Jesus  sitteth  at  the  right 
hand  of  God.  Thither  will  your  wishes  and  your 
thoughts  ascend  and  dwell,  where  is  no  lie,  no  sin,  no 
curse,  where  you  will  be  perfect  in  the  Lord  your 
righteousness.  Always  willing  rather  to  depart  and 
be  with  Christ,  which  is  far  better, — thy  heart  shall 
not  be  made  sick  by  hope  deferred, — the  Lord  thy 
righteousness  shall  come,  he  will  not  tarry.  The 
Shepherd  will  take  thee  to  himself,  where  he  will  lead 
thee  into  green  pastures,  and  beside  the  still  waters, 
where, 

"  You  will  range  the  sweet  plains  on  the  banks  of  the  river, 
And  sing  of  salvation  forever  and  ever." 

And  now,  what  shall  we  say  to  thee,  0  man,  proud 
and  self-sufiicient,  who,  being  ignorant  of  God's  right- 
eousness, and  going  about  to  estabhsh  thine  own 
righteousnesss,  hast  not  submitted  thyself  to  the 
righteousness  of  God?  We  say  to  you,  professor,  or 
non-professor,  so  long  as  thou  art  not  a  possessor  of 
the  Lord  our  righteousness, — if  thou  dost  not  heartily 
embrace  and  clothe  thyself  with  the  Lord  our  right- 
eousness, but  dost  wonder  and  despise, — thou  shalt 
perish. 


478  THE  LORD  OUR  RIGHTEOUSNESS. 

And  now,  0  proud,  wicked  man,  if  thou  dost  die  in 
thine  iniquity,  I  have  deUvered  my  soul.  Thou  hast 
heard  the  sound  of  the  trumpet,  and  didst  not  take 
warning, — thy  blood  be  upon  thine  own  head. 

But  is  there  one  soul  here,  who,  though  he  may 
heretofore  have  felt  that  he  "was  rich,  and  increased 
with  goods,  and  had  need  of  nothing,"  now  begins  to 
fear  that  he  is  "wretched,  and  miserable,  and  poor,  and 
blind,  and  naked;"  and  as  he  hath  heard  the  counsel 
of  Jesus,  "the  Lord  our  righteousness," — "to  buy  of 
him  gold  tried  in  the  fire,  that  he  may  be  rich;  and 
white  raiment,  that  he  may  be  clothed,  and  that  the 
shame  of  his  nakedness  do  not  appear;  and  to  anoint 
his  eyes  with  eye-salve,  that  he  may  see," — is  almost 
persuaded  to  throw  off  his  filthy  rags,  and  put  on  the 
glorious  apparel  of  "  the  Lord  our  righteousness  ?" 

0  soul,  soul!  what  wouldst  thou  think  of  yon  proud 
poor-man,  whose  miserably  open  hut  is  unable  to  shield 
him  from  the  winter's  storm,  and  who  yet  refuses  to 
enter  in  and  occupy  the  close  and  well-provided  house 
which  you  have  built?  How  would  you  regard  that 
starving,  naked  man,  who  should  refuse  to  sit  down 
at  your  well-furnished  board,  and  from  your  full  ward- 
robe to  clothe  himself?  How  then  doth  doubt  and 
hesitation  seem  in  thee,  poor,  sinful  soul,  when  Jesus, 
with  his  righteousness,  would  gladly  cover  all  thy  sins  ? 
Doth  it  not  rather  become  thee  to  beg,  to  pray?  Nay; 
this  thou  must  bring  thyself  earnestly  to  do,  or  never 
gain.  He  is  found  only  by  those,  who  seek  for  him 
with  all  their  heart.  All  that  he  doth  demand  is  un- 
reserved faith  and  trust  in  him,  his  righteousness, 
atonement,  all-sufficiency.     Dost  thou  feel  the  desu'e 


THE  LORD  OUR  RIGHTEOUSNESS.  479 

for  this  faith  and  trust, — it  is  his  Spirit  prompts, — 
now  cleave  to  Christ, — his  spirit  then  hath  crowned 
the  work;  his  grace  hath  clothed  thee  with  his  robe 
of  righteousness.  And  dost  thou  weep  for  past  sin, 
or  present  joy?  His  love  will  wipe  away  thy  tears, 
or  make  them  sweet;  and  cause  thee  to  rejoice  in  "the 
Lord,  thy  righteousness."  Dost  thou  believe;  or  dost 
thou  turn  away? 

"  Ashamed  of  Jesus  !  that  dear  friend 
On  whom  my  hopes  of  heaven  depend. 
No,  when  I  blush,  be  this  my  shame, 
That  I  no  more  revere  his  name. 

Ashamed  of  Jesus !  empty  pride ; 
I'll  boast  a  Saviour  crucified ; 
And  0,  may  this  my  portion  be, 
My  Saviour,  not  ashamed  of  me." 


THE  END. 


,  ■]:  iWTPVTT 


